Take Whatever You Can Get
by stuckinimagination
Summary: Things never went the way Sakura wanted. She should be used to it by now. Now that she was in her second year of medical school, an unexpected thing (at least, to her) happened and her past was trying to catch up with her. She prayed for a change in her life but to be caught in some kind of a fictional situation was more than she can handle. AU.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or the characters in it. I apologize if this is similar to some other fanfic and I can assure you that this fanfic is as original as it can be.**

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 **Chapter 1: Favourable**

She felt cheated.

Well, it was not the first time that she felt cheated. There were a couple of times that people got the better out of her and every single time it happened, she swore to herself that she would not let it happen again. However, things did not normally go according to how she wanted it to. Instead, she always got the opposite and most of the time, she had no choice but to just go along with it.

Maybe it got something to do with the fact that she was best friend with the knucklehead Uzumaki Naruto, to whom she could not deny anything, and also with the spoilt (good thing he could not read her mind) Uchiha Sasuke, who always ended up getting whatever he wanted (because he would throw a tantrum, _albeit a quiet one_ , if he did not).She was often forced to follow what people want. She was a master at adapting to unfavourable situations.

But this was something that she felt like she could not adapt to.

Why, you asked?

Having the infamous Uchiha Itachi sitting in front of you when you expected to have a catch-up session with your only female best friend after few weeks of not seeing her in one of those calm artsy looking café near the University was one of the most unexpected, unadaptable situations.

She did not have to be a genius to realize the fact that this whole situation was planned by that one female best friend of her who she should have mentioned when she was talking about people who often got her into situations that was not at all favourable.

Now she was just overusing that word.

But could you blame her, really?

She was not personally acquainted to the Uchiha Itachi despite the fact that she should be since she was close to his younger brother. It was probably because she preferred hanging around at Naruto's place rather than Sasuke's. She went to Sasuke's place _once_ but Uchiha Fugaku scared the hell out of her. To be specific, his strict and traditional self made her feel like she was out of her comfort zone. The second when she entered the Uchiha compound, she felt so out of place in her casual modern attire. Not forgetting to mention that she was kind of brazen and informal.

"I take it that you did not expect to see me here."

 _No, shit._ She might have been unable to mask her surprise. She would not be surprised if the face that she was making right then was so unattractive. She was sure that Magikarp would look more attractive than she was at that moment.

"Haruno-san, I have been trying to contact you but-"

"I changed my number," she blurted out. At this moment, she was not surprised that she was no longer in control of her brain. In her defence, he was not the first person to say that they had not been able to get in touch with her. It was true that she changed her number and it was not just some kind of an automatic response.

His lips twitched upward. "Hn, I am aware of that."

She was sure that he was also aware of her thoughts when she felt her blood rushing to her face. _Good Lord, did the Uchiha Itachi who always look so emotionless just smiled at her?_ It was only for a second but still…

Trying to calm herself, her hand reached for her iced coffee. She was aware that her hands were shaking but she hoped that he did not see it. Sadly, it was rather obvious that he did. Even if he did not notice the shaking, her loud sipping must be an obvious telltale of how nervous she was.

 _Dammit, why was she feeling so nervous?_

She decided to talk. She decided that now would be best to act like she was not affected by his presence. She let out a soft cough to check her voice. "Erm…"

Looking at this positively, she managed to voice out a syllable even though that was not a word. She managed to let out two sounds and not just one.

"I would like to explain." She did not realize that his coffee was already on his table until he brought the cup to his lips.

"That," she squeak. She let out a cough again trying to cover herself. "That would be helpful," she tried again. _This was so unlike her. Why was she being so formal?_

"I would like to apologize first for making your friend lie to you but I can assure you that I did not force her to do this."

She knew that Ino planned this. However, she did not expect the revelation that he was the one who made her best friend do this.

"I have tried to get in touch with you."

 _Yes, he said that already._ She was still nervous but her curiosity got the best of her. "How?"

"I got your phone number but it was only recently that I found out that you changed it. I also tried to add you up on Facebook but I'm guessing that you had not been checking it."

He was right. She had not been checking it. Her eyebrow twitched when she realized that even though she had not been checking it, she should have received a notification as her phone was connected to her Facebook.

"I have also DM-ed you on Twitter but I still-"

"I do not have a Twitter." She was not sure what she was more confused about right now: the fact that she supposedly had a Twitter or the fact that Uchiha Itachi had a Twitter.

His eyebrow twitched. He was sure that it was her account that he followed. "To put things short, I am unable to get in touch with you. So I was advised that I should get your friend to set this up for me."

She did not know what he was trying to tell her. But, "You could have just approach me if you have something to talk about." She had always thought that she was an approachable person and now knowing that someone went to such length just to get in touch with her made her think otherwise. Well, if she was unapproachable, it might be attributable to the fact that her two male best friends were so protective of her. However, she had a feeling that the Uchiha Itachi would not be discouraged by that.

"It would be nice if it was that easy." She was not sure if she was interpreting his words right but it seemed like he had tried to do that already.

She was not sure how she should act after hearing that statement. She was not an oblivious person. She could not guess what he could have wanted from her but she knew that for him to try so hard to contact her, it must be something important.

Something that Sasuke said during one of his _Itachi-worshipping_ moments came back to her.

" _Aniki is doing a research on medical law and ethics focussing on….."_ the details were lost on her. But it could be because of that, because what else could a Law lecturer want from her, a second year medical undergraduate?

"If this is about your research-"

"It is not about that, Haruno-san," he interrupted. She swore she saw a pleased sparkle in his eyes for a second there.

She frowned. All of her nervousness had left her by now and she wanted nothing but to know what exactly he wanted from her. Something told her whatever he was going to say would change her life. Whether it was for the better or for worst, she could not predict.

Then a thought came to her mind and with a horror-filled expression, she responded, "I've read about this many times already. I am not going to be your fake girlfriend."

She did not know why she said that but she forced herself to not feel embarrassed…yet. Because why else would he approach her? Everyone knew that Itachi was not close to any female other than his mother. Everyone also knew that his privacy was often invaded by the many females who appreciate his good looks. Everyone also knew that he actually loved his personal space so much that he felt those privacy invasions were a nuisance even though he said nothing about it since Uchiha Mikoto had made sure to teach her sons to be a gentleman.

 _Well, the lessons might have been lost on Sasuke._

But Itachi… he was a known gentleman to the core.

…Now that she thought about it, if he was a gentleman, he would not ask her to be a fake girlfriend. The logic of it all would be lost. Sakura, of all people, was well accustomed, unfortunately, to the fact that people often turned to the things that was least expected of them when desperate.

She could not even accept the idea of the Uchiha in a state of desperation but he was human, too. And it would not be weird if he lost himself to that state. Especially after years of keeping up with those females. Sakura herself had learnt how annoying fangirls could be. She had been friends with Sasuke for as long as she could remember. She did not know how annoying they were actually but with Sasuke's constant whining (he would really kill her if he knew she said this) she could imagine just how annoying they could be.

Nothing could have prepared her for what came next.

"You don't have to be a fake one."

She felt cheated a lot of time.

Every time she felt cheated, she was often forced to adapt to an unfavourable situation.

She was a master at adapting.

This time, she could not adapt to this unfavourable situation.

It was unfavourable because she could not adapt to this.

It was unfavourable because, deep down, she knew that it was a favourable situation disguised as an unfavourable situation.

She had been asking to be in a relationship because she was getting tired of having male best friends who were close to her but not a boyfriend. This was not saying that she never had a boyfriend. She had but it was just that she was now at that age where she needed some kind of a secure standing in life. She had reached the time of her life where it was only normal for her to graduate from being single to a more serious relationship.

But this was _beyond_ favourable.

 _Beyond_ what she thought was possible.

Sakura was not the kind of person to daydream for something unachievable so this was something that she would never have expected could have happened to her.

So she was at loss at how to act.

"No."

She should have practiced responding to a flirtatious remark when Ino told her to.

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 **AN: I apologize for any grammatical errors in this. This idea came to me suddenly and I just had to write it down and I thought that I should post it for fun. The characters may be out of character but all is in the name of a fanfiction, lol. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the read!**

 **Please do leave a review and tell me what you think! Anonymous reviews are accepted!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or the characters in it. I apologize if this is similar to some other fanfic and I can assure you that this fanfic is as original as it can be.**

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 **Chapter 2: Mischief**

"Sakura."

Sakura had just walked out of the locker room but she stopped when she heard someone calling her name. She was feeling very tired since she had full clinical hours that day. She expected that she would be able to get some rest after the long tiring day but it seemed like that would be impossible.

"What is it, Sasuke-kun?" she groaned, not wanting to deal with him right then. She had just learned recently that Uchihas did not usually approach anyone unless they had something that they want. She made a face, not wanting to remember what happened yesterday. It was not that she acted unreasonably or something, it was just that her conversation with Itachi yesterday ended on an ambiguous note.

She did not really need to ask. Knowing Sasuke, he might have already found out about how his older brother sought for her yesterday.

"I heard Aniki went to you yesterday."

She would have rolled her eyes if she had the energy to. Good thing he was not the type to skirt around the main question.

She continued to walk, knowing that he would follow her. She would not want anyone eavesdropping on their conversation. The loud chatters that filled the locker room just few seconds earlier suddenly disappeared and she had a feeling that those bunch of gossiping colleagues of hers were now glued to the door hoping to get a gist of their conversation or, better yet, the whole conversation itself.

They were all under the impression that she was dating one of her male best friends despite her adamant denial of it. She could not blame them from thinking that way as even Ino, someone who was so close to her and knew very well the extent of her relationship with Naruto and Sasuke, thought that they were so close that it was unbelievable that the three of them had nothing going on.

To some extent, they were right. They used to have something going on. Sakura used to have a crush on Sasuke and she acted on it. He said nothing and even acted like he heard nothing. She thought that it was his way of rejecting her but the next day; he made sure to stay by her side more than he usually did.

Anyone would think that he was dating her. Everyone did so she ended up thinking the same too.

 _She should have known him better._ She did. She knew him better than anyone else (but probably less than how much Naruto did).

It lasted for about a month or two when she found out that he accepted her feelings because he felt like he should, not because he felt at least something beyond friendship for her. That revelation caused her to explode on him and it caused quite a strain on their relationship for a while causing her to spend more time with Naruto. Inevitably, Naruto, the kind person that he was, got sick of seeing her mopping around that he asked her, _"I can help you, Sakura-chan. I can help you because I like you."_

She knew she was taking advantage of his kindness, especially since she knew of his feelings for her. They dated for a bit too but eventually, she realized that she was hurting Naruto more than she was making him happy. She realized that when he said what he said, she felt like she was put in a position where she could not say no.

It took a lot of guilt and a lot of staying away from the blonde but one day, the first time since their fight, she bumped into Sasuke who was actually intent on acting like he did not see her.

" _Was it the pressure of losing our friendship?"_

He did not respond to her question but she understood his silence more than anything.

" _I think… I think I did the same thing you did…. To Naruto…-kun, I did the same thing,"_ she sobbed.

She wailed and wailed, wishing that she could go back to the past, wishing that she did not confess to Sasuke since she was sure that that was the main catalyst of everything.

Any normal person would try to console her. She thought that he would when he flinched and glanced back at her. However, he left her. He left her crying her eyes out at the school entrance, _that crazy bastard._

She could not remember how it happened but she managed to explain everything to Naruto. She did not want to remember the heartbroken expression that Naruto had. She had thought that the friendship between all three of them would be no more.

 _But on the contrary, it made them closer._

Maybe it was due to the fact that it was then clear that they were not brought together for some kind of a romantic relationship. It was clear for the first time that they were brought together for simply a platonic relationship.

The three of them had crossed the line of friendship but they were not in a relationship. She understood their relationship to be a bit more than friends but definitely less than a romance but different from a family. It was a bit difficult to explain but it was special. Now, she would not change anything that had happened.

It was, surprisingly, not a topic that they would avoid. Instead, they often joke about it and had a good laugh about it. When thinking of the short relationship of Sasuke, she would often tease the Uchiha about how he should stop acting like a wannabe cool aloof guy because they all knew how soft he could be. Naruto would always shove it to Sasuke's face about how Sakura had more fun being in a relationship with him then she did with Sasuke.

It was a bit weird and awkward at first joking about it but it was nice knowing that there was no boundary.

 _But she was still mad about how Sasuke left her to cry._ That guy seriously did not know how to be compassionate. That, or he was so caught up in trying to imitate his brother that he became bit mistaken in interpreting his brother's gentleman-like attitude as aloofness.

She was not afraid to show her displeasure about that to him by pointing out whenever she got the chance that he left her crying at the school entrance. He was a bit too aloof and she thought Batman was bad.

That all happened in the first year of her highschool. She experienced quite a lot of things during her high school year. Basically the life that she had before the first year of medical school was kind of colourful. Medical school took a toll on her especially since it took all five days of her week.

However, things had been getting a bit more colours since yesterday.

"Yes, he did," she replied to him. She knew he expected her to elaborate. "He wanted to court me, it seems."

S _ilence._

She took a side glance at him for a bit, resisting the urge to raise an eyebrow at him. _Why was he not saying anything?_ She was expecting him to drill things out of her like he usually did.

They reached the front of her school building where she parked her bicycle, but still he did not say anything. She would have thought that he had nothing more to ask, that what he wanted was just some kind of confirmation.

Now, if he still walked her around even after the bad fight that they had, she would not be questioning it. However, when they all came to accept the fact that they could only be friends, things returned back the way it used to be, albeit not entirely everything and certainly not almost everything.

And like she said earlier, Uchihas were not the kind of people who would approach someone without anything in mind.

 _And she thought dilly-dallying was more of a Naruto kind of thing._

"Did your soul trade places with Naruto-kun's?"

"Don't put me on the same level as the dobe."

Her lips curled upwards, amused. "Just making sure." She straddled her bicycle. "I am actually looking forward to my bed right now, Sasuke-kun. Please just say whatever you want to say or I might be forced to get it out of you."

It was a well-known fact among them that she got easily curious. She was the kind of person who would not be afraid of acting on her curiosity. They also knew that she would push them to their limits until she got something out of them. She knew that they were often annoyed and tired of her persistence so she always used it to her advantage. Many would have thought that Naruto would be the one to break first but it was Sasuke. Always Sasuke.

It might be attributable to the fact that he was easily irked. It might also be because he was usually already annoyed by his fangirls that Sakura's attempt at getting something out of them was the last straw.

He looked like he was trying to form a sentence but it was taking a bit too long. Sakura really wanted to sleep and rest right then and whatever he wanted say could wait… at least until tomorrow.

"If you can't say it now, I'll just go f-"

"Is he waiting for you on your bed?"

Sakura blinked. _Did he just-_ Blinked again. _What did he just say?_ "What?"

"Aniki, is he-."Looking as if he had just realized what he was asking, he made a disgusted face. "No, don't answer that."

"Wait, what?"

"Nothing. I've gotten what I needed-."

"And you needed to know if he was waiting for me on my bed?"

"No." His answer was sudden and his voice was a bit higher. She could hear the panic. Sadly for him, she felt like teasing him and get answers at the same time.

"But you asked that and it seemed like you came to your own conclusion. So you must have wanted to know that."

"No, Sakura. Just forget about-."

"Why would you want to know something like that?" she interrupted him, showing him that she was not going to let him off easily.

"Just," he groaned, not wanting to tell her what he was actually planning to ask. "Naruto wants you to send this over to him," he shoved a bag she knew was filled with cup ramen to her.

Her eyebrow twitched. She knew what he was trying to do. "What are you two up to?"

"Nothing," he walked away from her, his pace fast. "He is in the main library." _Main library? Naruto?_

She glared at his back. She was tired. She wanted her sleep. She wanted her rest. There was also that report that she had to do before sleeping.

"Don't think you can get away with whatever you guys are doing just because you're letting Naruto to deal with this!"

There were many things that those two boys did not tell her, especially their acts of mischiefs. She had told them before that she did not want to be involved in one of their mischievous acts. Never once did she think of the possibility that she would be the subject of their act.

* * *

"Oh, fuck."

If she was not sure that they were up to something, she was sure now.

"That is kind of rude, Naruto-kun," she placed the bag full of ramen onto the table onto which he had papers sprawled all over a bit too exaggeratedly. She scrunched her nose at the political words on some of the papers. She could never understand how someone like Naruto could like Politics so much. "I thought foods like this aren't allowed here," she stared at him accusingly.

The blonde laughed sheepishly. "Sorry about that. Long time no see, Sakura-chan! You look tired. Where's teme?"

The people around them sent a glare their way.

"Lower your voice a bit, Naruto-kun." She sat down across from him. "What are you doing here?"

"Studying," he replied automatically, almost monotonously, as if he had been practicing it. "So where's teme?"

She furrowed her eyebrows. She noticed that he was not focussing on her and no, she was not referring to the fact that he kept asking about Sasuke. His eyes were elsewhere. "Sasuke-kun isn't here. Were you supposed to be meeting him here or," she followed his line of vision. "Oh." She turned to him, struck with an idea.

He did not see the scheming smile on her face.

"Yeah, I asked him to get me some snacks." He did not realize her incomplete question either. He looked more than a bit distracted.

 _Let's get this over with._

"That's Hyuuga Hinata,"she announced to him, smiling.

That got his attention. His eyes were wide and his face was red with embarrassment. He was gaping like a fish. "What-"

"Your voice, Naruto-kun."

He gulped down before asking, "You know her, Sakura-chan?"

"She used to take medicine before she changed course." She folded her arms on the table, fighting the temptation to lay her head on the table. "There, I gave you two information about her already. Now tell me what you and Sasuke-kun have been doing behind my back."

Naruto paled, "How did you find out?"

"Now that you confirmed it." She paused for a bit when she saw his face turning purple, wondering if she should just let it be for now and asked him when Sasuke was present.

He was practically breaking into sweats and she would be damned if she did not take the opportunity when it was served to her on a platter.

"I met Sasuke briefly earlier. He looked like he wanted to confirm something." She wondered if she should say it but she helpfully included anyway, "About his brother." She saw him getting tense and she knew immediately that there must be something. "Did you guys know that he was trying to get to me?"

It was a thought. Since Sasuke was involved in this too, it was more than possible.

He looked guilty and she did not need him to say something. "I'm sorry!" He looked like he would do a dogeza if he could. He could not so he just brought his hands together in front of him with his eyes squeezed tight. "We might have created you a Twitter account!"

"That was you guys?!" She did not realize she was yelling until people were shushing at them.

He peeked at her, trying to not actually look at her. "We were worried. You haven't been checking your Facebook and since you changed your number, we have always thought-"

"I do check my Facebook when I have time," she said through gritted teeth, trying to keep her voice down. She did not know whether she was supposed to be mad or relieved. She had been worried that someone was stealing her identity and finding out that it was the boys erased some the negative thoughts that she had been having lately.

A snippet of the conversation with Uchiha Itachi came to her mind. "The direct message, did you guys read it?"

 _Please say no._

This time, Naruto's face was red to his ears. Involuntarily, she turned red too.

 _Oh, God._

Naruto mistook it as her becoming furious. He felt the need to defend himself. "I'm sorry, Sakura-chan! We did not know that teme's brother of all people would follow you on Twitter!" It would have been better if he ended it there but instead, "It was not until the direct messages that I realized why he added you on Facebook!"

Sakura's eyebrow twitched. She stopped herself from saying something as she knew that if she did, she would explode. She was wishing that the expression she had right now would convey to him her thoughts.

And lucky for him, he got the message.

He was starting to stutter, his voice was at the lowest she had ever heard him talked in. "I-I accidentally rejected his friend request when I was playing Candy Crush on your phone."

She knew how clumsy Naruto was with technology so she accepted that.

She was going to ask him why he did not tell her about it when she accidentally made eye contact with the strict librarian who were sending messages through her eyes that she should either stay and be quiet or get the hell out.

She was going to go home anyway.

Sighing, she demanded tiredly, "Give me the e-mail and password for the Twitter account."

Afraid of the woman's wrath, Naruto wordlessly complied.

When he was done writing it down and when Sakura was getting up from her seat, he gathered his guts to ask.

"Are you dating him, Sakura-chan?"

Sasuke must have told him about it before he went to her.

Resisting the urge to tell him about the conversation with Itachi and consequently the things that had been plaguing her mind distracting her from her work, she forced a smile.

He whined loudly when she just left him there, aware of the fact that she was saying neither yes nor a no.

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 **AN: Thank you to Siralia and Zombie Reine for the review! I know it had not been long since I uploaded the first chapter but I thought since I've finished writing the second chapter, why not? I hope you guys enjoyed reading this chapter too.**

 **Please do leave me a review and tell me what you think! Anonymous reviews are accepted!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or the characters in it. I apologize if this is similar to some other fanfic and I can assure you that this fanfic is as original as it can be.**

* * *

 **Chapter 3: Confusion**

Never once did she feel like missing on her lectures, not even when that one part-time lecturer took over Tsunade-shishou for one whole month. And that was saying a lot because the lecturer was so boring that she often wondered why she bothered attending it at all. Nothing stayed glued to her mind and on the few days when she actually got what the lecturer was saying, she would always get confused by the end of the day.

She was just glad that the lecturer was on a maternity leave now.

She was just not ready for the lecture that replaced Tsunade-Shishou's because of the meeting between the Head of Schools. Then again, it was unusual for Head of Schools to be teaching. But their school was a bit understaffed compare to others.

Sakura was feeling uncomfortable throughout the lecture this time. She kept changing her sitting position to positions that she had never sat in before. _This is a bad posture,_ her mind would tell her but she could care less right now. She was trying so hard to be invisible but her movement was more of a bright red sign showing her evidence.

It was not that this lecture was boring. True, she did not see the point in studying this module because why would medics need to know about law? Ethics, yes, but law? On the contrary, it was unexpectedly fun, it was active and it was easy to understand. However, that was it. That was exactly the problem. It was active. She never had a problem with a lecture being active before either as she was the kind of person who liked to be actively engaged in it.

However, this time, she really hated that this lecture was very interactive.

It was only a matter of time before her name was called out.

She had tried making Ino accompany her to this lecture when she saw it on her updated timetable but the girl had adamantly refused her saying that she had some kind of a workshop to attend to. It was not long after Ino left her that Shikamaru, who was with them at that time, told her that they never had any workshop in their course. They did have a work placement in the third year but they were only required to study the normal psychological theories now in their second year.

Sakura knew just what message Ino was trying to send to her. She was telling her to take care of her problem herself. She was telling her to face it and acknowledge and talk about it like adults did and _to not ever get her involved in it, damn it_.

 _Who was it that lured her into this in the first place?_

Sakura made a promise to herself (one that she knew she would break because she could not just deny anyone anything) to never help back _that pig_ up when her ex-boyfriends came knocking down her door ever again because as much as she did not like lying to those men about being Ino's boyfriend (through texts, because if she claimed that she was her boyfriend through a phone call, her voice would be an immediate giveaway), they all were douchebags who just wanted to get into Ino's pants with no regard to her feelings whatsoever.

She never agreed with Ino's choice of lifestyle. She have tried making her see why it was bad but Ino would always tell her that it was her way of finding her Mr. Right. The same argument over and over again made her stop trying to make her see things so she resorted to just backing her up and hoped that the next guy would be the kind of guy Ino would go serious for.

Obviously, that had never happened. She now wished that that would happen in the near future.

She did not know whether she succeeded in making herself little and invisible or the lecturer was ignoring her like she hoped he would. Fortunately, she was never called out and the lecture finally came to an end. Hastily, she picked up her things and threw them into her beg with no consideration of how things would get crumpled. Sakura never packed up her things this fast.

She guessed there were a lot of things that she was sure she was not capable of doing until Uchiha Itachi happened.

To be specific, until she read the messages he left her on Twitter.

She felt her cheeks heated up just remembering it and her pace quickened. When she managed to zip up her bag with much difficulty than usual, she rushed out of the row she was sitting at and was about to go down the stairs when-

No, it was not like in many romance novels when her bag magically opened and her books spilled. She also did not fall down the stairs into Itachi's arms.

"Haruno-san! I think that's your phone!"

But it was a disturbance, just the same. Her phone just chose today of all days to lie down on the carpeted floor below the folded seat where she just sat at. She did not want to curse her luck, afraid that these kinds of things would follow her throughout her life. She did not want any more kind of disturbances affecting her life, thank you very much.

She was so tempted to say _let it be_ or to tell her course mate to help bring it down to her. However, he already rushed down the stairs and reluctantly, she went back into the rows to pick it up.

She took a peek at the centre podium and saw Itachi busy explaining some things to a student who looks like she was more interested in the person talking about the topic than the topic that they were discussing itself. She thought she saw him glancing at her once in a while but she did not really have a perfect vision to be sure of it.

She was out before she knew it. She felt so parched, her throat was burning so much and she knew it was the nerves. She had nothing to do after this since the lecture stretched out to 6 in the evening so she decided to go to the vending machine at the back of the medical school where she knew Itachi would not be passing by.

She was not sure why she was avoiding him this much. Well, she had an idea. After she read what he wrote to her, she knew that she would not be able to have a decent conversation with him what was with the amount of blood rushing to her head.

She was experiencing a mixture of feelings that she was not ready to address. It was not something romantic per se, but it was definitely something. It was a ripple caused by his determination that she could see from the way he was trying to express himself. Sakura was weak for determined guys, she knew that. Even though it was not the same kind of determination that she fell for before, she would not fall for this kind of thing ever again.

She inserted the exact amount of coins needed for a bottle of water and was relieved by the sound of the bottle hitting down, waiting to be picked up. This particular vending machine was popular among the students due to its tendency to swallow down coins without ejecting anything. She grinned at her luck. Maybe things would get better after this.

She purposefully walked down through the hallway in the clinic area where they were studying how to diagnose. She was not sure whether she was surprised or not when she saw Itachi talking to one of the junior clinical lecturers because deep down she knew that she was trying to avoid the unavoidable.

Ino was right. They needed to talk it out. Like adults.

It did not matter that that advice came from someone who was still acting like a teenager in one of their YOLO period.

Sakura ignored the rush of blood going through her head when her heart started to pump fast.

This time, when Itachi caught her eyes and nodded, she stayed rooted to her spot, waiting for him to end his conversation.

* * *

"Here."

Itachi placed a plate containing fried chicken and chips with a small container filled with coleslaw on her side of the table. He bought her a bottle of water while he got himself a cup of tea with the same meal.

"Thanks."

She did not expect him to bring her somewhere so public to discuss what they have been leaving hanging up in the air. That time when he came to her with the intention to let her know of his true, honest feelings, their conversation was left at an ambiguous note as Sakura had a workshop to attend. Things were cleared to a certain extent but the question of what they were going to do with this development in their previously non-existing relationship remained.

Logically, choosing a fast-food restaurant to discuss about something like this was a bad choice. However, neither of them was thinking of whether or not it was a bad choice right then. Neither of them was thinking of anything at that moment, it seemed. Sakura was not sure how to phrase it but she was certain that Itachi was feeling just as blank as she was.

None of them knew what they should say and how to start it. A restaurant just seemed to be the best choice which would allow them to postpone this for an hour a less.

She thought that he would not say anything again because he was really quiet during the car ride but she was proven wrong.

"Sasuke and Naruto approached me."

Perhaps she was wrong about how he was feeling as blank as her.

She was in the middle of putting a cut of the chicken into her mouth when he said that. She stopped for a second before proceeding to take the cut piece into her mouth and slowly chew it. Only then did she place back the fork on her plate and with an understanding tone, she said, "Me too, actually."

"Yes, they told me. Naruto also told me that you left something unanswered."

She knew exactly what he was talking about and he was making sure that she did. He was not cutting corners to lead the conversation there and she expected that of him. If he did, it would be so unlike him. So unlike what she expected of him.

"Can't this wait until we're done eating?"

He looked calm but from his erratic use of utensils, she knew he was more nervous than she was. She could not blame him. He was the one who was waiting for an answer. She was only doing the answering.

She mentally saluted him for answering calmly. "We have postponed this long enough, Haruno-san." He was quiet for a good minute. She felt like she had to answer but she did not need to when he continued, "This would distract me from whatever your answer is going to be."

She knew how she was making him feel. She was there before, not with Sasuke, not with Naruto, but with someone else. It was something that she would not like to experience again. She made it a policy of hers to not make anyone hanging but she did just that to Itachi.

She knew that she had a guilty expression and unfortunately, Itachi saw it.

"It's okay if you are going to give me a negative answer, Haruno-san. I just want clarity."

A clarity. What was her clarity for him, exactly? She, herself, was confused. She did not have clarity for herself. She did not know how to answer him. She was feeling a myriad of emotions and feelings. Frustrated, she opened her water bottle and took a large gulp of it.

He was getting agitated. She could not think of any other word describing his mood just then. He placed his utensils down but not soon after, it fell out of the box. It was an out of character act. It was something that she never thought Uchiha Itachi, _Sasuke's perfect older brother_ , was capable of. But maybe he was always like this. She never did know him. Sasuke always talked big of his brother. He worshipped the ground Itachi walked on and even tried to imitate him albeit it made him more like a jerk and less cool and distant-like.

The direct messages came back to her. No, that was not right. Itachi was not cool. He was not distant either. He was not at all aloof. He was a by the book person. He was awkward. He was curious. He was full of emotions. He just did not know how to express them clearly. Or maybe he did but he was awkward with it that people mistook him for being distant and unapproachable.

Sakura was hit by the fact that she did not know Uchiha Itachi beyond how Sasuke saw him and beyond how people depicted him.

And she finally understood what she wanted to do to clear up her feelings a bit.

"Actually…" she played with the closest think that she could reach and it turned out to be the bottle cap. She moved it around in between her right index finger and her thumb. She needed to calm her emotions and focussing a bit of her mind onto something else was the only thing that she could think of. "I…would like to get to know you."

His mouth parted a bit. He was shocked. She fought back a smile.

He definitely was not as aloof and perfect as Sasuke imagined him to be.

"I can see your sincerity in this but I can't give you a sincere and honest answer if I don't know you and I don't think that would be fair to you."

"Hn." It was an affirmation. It was a sound to encourage her to continue telling him her reasons.

If she did not know Sasuke, she would not be able to understand his grunt. Maybe there was something that Sasuke managed to imitate properly.

"I," she searched her mind for the right word to say. "I saw your direct messages and I was…moved." Her face reddened.

"Haruno-san, if-"

"No, please hear me out first." She decided to this and she would see to this. "I can't say for sure that I return your feelings but I can certainly say that you make me feel…something." She bit her lips in frustration, knowing that her answer did not exactly express what was in her mind. This was the first time that she was unable to express her feelings clearly. "Something…it's confusing. But I'm sure it will get clear if I spend more time with you." She was going to stop there but she added quickly, "But I'm sure I'm making the right choice. I'll regret it if I don't get to know you."

She was phrasing them wrong all over, she knew.

He reached for the extra utensils that he thankfully took earlier. "I won't say anything, Haruno-san. I can't say I understand you reasoning but," he finally went back to eating. "If it helps to clear things up for you, I will not object to it."

She placed the bottle cap down and reached to eat her own food. "…Good enough, I guess."

They sat in a comfortable silent the next few minutes and soon, they finished their food. She reckoned that he was dealing with whatever was going on in his mind. The gear in his head must be spinning right now.

She realized that she was a lot more aware of him compared to the first time.

It was only when he was holding the door open when they were going to exit the restaurant that he brought up a question.

"Didn't you say you didn't have a Twitter?"

Her anger was triggered. She was still a bit upset about how her two best friends made her a Twitter account because they think there was something that she was not telling them.

And for the first time, she acted like herself in front of Itachi. She ranted off everything that she found out to him.

That night, when she was preparing to bed, she realized that the conversation went better than she expected. Even though her mind was clouded, she was able to speak her thoughts. Even though the feelings were confusing and still was confusing, she at least knew what she should do to clear the cloudiness up.

And the most important part was, she had fun. A lot of fun.

She would not mind spending some time with Itachi again.

Her mind unconsciously travelled back to when they arrived in front of her apartment building. They had finished bidding each other their farewell when Sakura stopped before closing the door to his car.

"Erm, what should I call you? I mean, I know your name and all but calling you Uchiha-san would be so weird because that's what I call your father and I think that would make this very awkward? I want to clear up my feelings and I don't think anything will change if there is some kind of a distant between us. I need to stop thinking of you as Sasuke's older brother too and more of you as yo-"

"Itachi should be fine," he broke of her rant. She was glad that he did because she did not know what would come out of her mouth since the first sentence was blurted out.

Her face heated. "Right. 'Itachi'," she was testing his name and it did not feel out of place. Maybe it was because she had been referring to him as Itachi instead of Sasuke's older brother lately in her mind.

"Then, Haruno-san, good-"

"Sakura."

His lips twitched. "Sakura. Good night then, Sakura."

It was the first positive expression that she saw on him that night and it made her grin.

She then proceeded to go to sleep but before she did, she let herself say his name out loud. This time, she had no objective, She just felt like saying it.

"Itachi."

She fell into a deep, dreamless slumber. However, before she did, she was thinking of how cute he actually was if how he texted was any indication.

* * *

" _Haruno-san, I am sure that you know who I am. I am Uchiha Itachi, Sasuke's older brother. Iksjn-"_

" _I apologize. I did not realize that clicking enter would immediately send the text."_

" _I would like to invite you out to meet up because I have something to tell you."_

" _I do not want to scare you so I would like to tell you that this is nothing bad but that depends on how you will be taking it."_

" _I have been trying to talk to you but to no avail. A friend of mine told me to try to get to you through a social-networking site."_

" _I am aware that my act is bordering on stalking but there is something that I would like to clarify."_

" _That something will not be clarified if I don't get an answer from you."_

" _I want to tell you about my fee-"_

" _I apologize, that was not supposed to be sent."_

" _By now, you should already know what I am going to talk about when we meet."_

" _I hope this will not influence your decision to not meet up."_

" _I will be waiting for your reply."_

* * *

 **AN: I apologize for the wait! I have just finished my finals and now I can concentrate on this story a bit more. Thank you for the reviews, _Zombie Reine, Szilorsi and Siralia_! Thank you also to those who alerted and favorited! I hope you guys enjoy this chapter too.**

 **Please do leave a review and tell me what you think! Anonymous reviews are accepted! I would really love to hear your thoughts.**

 **PS: I removed the humor tag because this fanfic will focus more on the romance part than the humor part.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:** **I do not own Naruto or the characters in it. I apologize if this is similar to some other fanfic and I can assure you that this fanfic is as original as it can be. The case mentioned in this fic is completely fictional and any similarity with a real-life case is not intended in any way.**

* * *

 **Chapter 4: Insecurity**

It had been a week since she saw Itachi. Normally, she would not care but after their last meeting, she expected that she would at least be able to meet him more frequently.

Despite the fact that she had now taken over her Twitter from Naruto's and Sasuke's control, never once did she tried texting Itachi there. It was not that she did not know how to use that particular social network, it was that she did not know whether it was okay to text him there knowing that the boys could log in to that account anywhere. She could change the password but then she did not own the e-mail that they used to make the account. They could just change the account back and knowing Sasuke, she had no doubt that he would influence Naruto to report that the change to the password was not their work.

She wanted so much to bash her head somewhere for not giving Itachi her number when they talked last time. She knew she sounded like she was desperate. She would not deny that she was. She was the kind of person who liked to know the answer to something as soon as possible and not knowing whether or not it was okay to accept Itachi's proposal to her to be his girlfriend was _torturing_ her. Sakura was not stupid. She knew that she wanted to give this a chance. However, she was afraid. She had taken rash decisions a lot before and she was too old for that. It was time for her to do things more carefully. She had to mind her future more. She had to be certain. She just had no time to waste.

She had been waiting for another of the Medicine Law and Ethics lecture as he mentioned last week that there will be another five sessions. She had been looking forward to today, thinking that she would be able to see him. However, instead of the person she had been expecting to see, an unknown redhead walked into the lecture hall looking all stoic.

 _Why were all law professors so stoic-looking?_

He looked around the lecture hall, obviously noting with displeasure the number of vacant seats in the hall. It was the same last lecture. Most people did not even bothered coming to a lecture of a module that had nothing to do with their main course. Actually, most male did not. The females came only for the sake of seeing the handsome dark-haired lecturer who was not in today. She was not included in the group of females, however, as, mind you, she actually had a reason for wanting to see the male. A reason that he himself created by confessing to her. It sounded like an excuse but Sakura needed an excuse more than anything right then. Furthermore, judging from most of the female's reaction to this new lecturer, it seemed like they were more than fine with this one too; a sentiment that she would like to point out that she did not share.

Sakura, herself, was actually contemplating not to attend the minor modules' lectures but she was a scaredy-cat. She was among the small number of people who was under the impression that the lecturers remember everyone's faces considering their relatively small number in comparison to other courses. If she took time to think about it, that was impossible. How could the lecturers remember every faces when they sometimes lecture for other courses too?

She reminded herself bitterly that she had _pink hair_. No one else that she had seen around the campus had pink hair. She must have stood out and therefore, the lecturers must have recognized her as _that girl with pink hair doing medicine_ or something.

He wasted no time after he was done setting the projector and immediately went to the podium. He easily quieted down the chatter in the room with only a stern cough.

"Hello. My name is Akasuna Sasori, your lecturer for today. I am standing in for Uchiha Itachi who is away on a business he had to attend to."

 _He's on a business trip? How come she did not know about any of this?_

Granted, she was thankful that she could focus on today's topic better than last week's. Granted, she was now able to take notes where needed and she realized that there were a lot of notes needed to be taken. Unfortunately, as soon as the lecture was over, her mind returned to the fact that he was on a business trip and also the fact that he failed to mention anything about it to her.

* * *

"I think Itachi is avoiding me."

That was said clearly with a hint of disappointment and anger in it. There was no evidence of doubt at all because that was exactly what she thought was happening.

They were sitting on the grass at the park just next to their university's main building. Sakura just hoped that there would not be any stains on her light blue jeans.

The blonde, who was forced to listen to all of her negative but supposedly true conclusions, looked at her incredulously through the thick-rimmed glasses that she wore for fashion purposes (and Sakura had a feeling that it was also to attract one of those hot guys who are attracted to one of those intelligent looking girls).

"What the hell, Forehead? Did you even listen to yourself?"

"No, Pig, really! There's no call, there's no text, heck, there's nothing!" Sakura threw her hands in the air in exasperation. "I also can't find his Facebook account."

Ino rolled her eyes at her best friend's false accusation that did not even have any basis. She stopped herself from frankly saying that she was being delirious though because she could tell what was going on in the pinkette's head. The pinkette was sensitive to a lot of things but more than anything, she was sensitive to things like this. It was the result of a past wound that had not yet fully healed. She was more than aware of that. It was her who had to talk some sense into the girl when she hit the lowest state of vulnerability, after all.

That incident made Sakura had some difficulty to trust everyone around her. There was always some insecurity that everyone was lying to her. Sakura did not have to say it but Ino knew that she was thinking it from the small tell-tales that she could see from her demeanour.

"For the record, he does not have your number. And before you say anything like he could have told you that he would be away when you had your little date last week, it might be a short notice thing. You know he's a busy man, Forehead."

"That's a given," Sakura threw herself onto the grass. She could feel the end of the grass blade tickling the back of her neck. "But he has Sasuke to tell him my number. Heck, he can have Sasuke tell me about it."

" _You_ also have Sasuke to tell you _his_ number," Ino pointed out. "Even if he told Sasuke, do you think Sasuke would tell you?" From the look on Sakura's face, Ino knew that she managed to plant some doubts into her head.

Ino let Sakura processed everything in her head first. What her best friend needed was some kind of an assurance that this time, she was not hanging on a thread that had no definite start and end. She wanted her best friend to be happy and something told her that Itachi could do exactly that.

When she saw Sakura gazing at the sky with clear eyes, she was not surprised when Sakura announced in a quiet voice, "I want to give this a chance, Ino-pig."

"But you're afraid," Ino helpfully added.

"Yes, I'm afraid. I don't know him, Ino. I want to know him better, I really do. But at the same time, I'm afraid that I-," she gulped.

Ino stared at her, mind processing how to word the things she wanted to say without it sounding like she was forcing her best friend to accept Itachi. She wanted Sakura to end up with Itachi. She wanted to force Sakura to accept Itachi. However, Sakura needed her space. She needed time to heal. She needed time to trust.

"Let's look at it like this, Forehead," she leaned on her hands as she, too, looked at the horizon, enjoying the lovely weather. "This time, it is not the same. He obviously feels something for you. If you fall for him, you can at least be assured of this."

"I don't want any more heartbreak, Ino."

"There will be no way of knowing that unless you take this one risk."

"Why are you taking his side so much?"

"I'm on the side of any good-looking male."

That made Sakura laughed. _Of course she was._ She would not be Ino if she did not.

"Thanks, Pig." And she was. She was going to take this one risk and hopefully it would turn out good.

* * *

It was on the next weekend on a Saturday when Sakura found herself facing Itachi after opening the door to her apartment. She was tempted to close the door on him but remembering what Ino said about giving him a chance, she forced her hand to just hold the door still.

Sakura took some time to look at his appearance and she took note of how some of his hair escaped the hair tie that pulled his hair to a low ponytail and also of how he was still clad in a grey suit that looked crinkled. There was also a newspaper in his left hand.

Ignoring the newspaper, Sakura noted that he looked extremely tired, as if he might fall asleep anytime soon but he fought his drowsiness. It looked like it was only a matter of time until he gave up to that drowsiness. Something cooled in her. _Did he really come to see her as soon as he arrived?_

They were staring at each other in silence until Sakura asked if he would like to come in. He looked like he would shake his head in a negative but he ended up entering. Sakura led him to the tiny sofa in the middle of her living room and went to brew some green tea for him. He looked tired and he looked like he needed some.

"How was the trip?" Sakura asked conversationally. Like Itachi, she was not the kind of person who liked to beat around the bush and she intended to make him realize that he should have told her about that trip or at least made an effort of it.

Ino would kill her if she knew that she was still blaming him for this. But heck, she was waiting. If it was for three to five days, she could understand.

"It was fine," his voice held a hint of sleep. "I am sorry for not telling you. It was a bit short notice."

She busied herself with transferring the leftover cookies that she baked for the time when Naruto came over two days ago onto a small snack plate. "I'm not mad about it. At least, I no longer am."

He frowned at the hidden meaning behind her words. "I am not avoiding you to escape your anger, Sakura. I was not avoiding you."

"I am aware of that."

"And you believe that I was. I was not."

"Sasuke did not even tell me anything about you going on a business trip. I had to know about it from your colleague."

"Sasuke doesn't know."

She brought the cookies and the tea to the coffee table and sat on the single sofa placed just near the one he was sitting at. "I don't know you, Itachi," she said slowly.

He reached for a cookie before looking at her, bringing the small dessert into his mouth. When he was done swallowing it, he voiced in a tone that could only be described as understanding. "I'm aware. I came to the realization that not telling you where I was going did not help make things easier. I would like to apologize for that."

"It's a bit too late for apologies."

"I want to tell you about this, at least."

"About what?"

He handed over to her a newspaper and she took it while looking at him, confused. She turned to the paper and noticed that there was a dog-ear from the first page which when she opened led her to the fifth page of the paper.

The article that took up the first half of the page was of a famous case that had been going on for about five years. The case had been taken to the appellate court and from the headline of that particular article, it seemed like the final decision had been met.

Sakura normally did not keep herself up-to-date with legal cases but this particular case involved a doctor who negligently administered a fatal dosage of levothyroxine sodium to a thyroid patient resulting in an underdose. There had been not much facts of the case focussed on the dosage except for how the doctor failed to follow the procedure in the way that he failed to ask if the patient was taking any other medication and therefore failed to administer the relevant dosage for the patient of that condition.

It had been mentioned once in a while in her tutorial classes whenever her tutors tried to make a point that it was important to follow procedure and ask these things. She was only keeping herself up-to-date because her lecturer had said that they needed to know that mistakes happen and most of the time, these mistakes were taken to court for a suitable punishment.

She took under a minute to read the case and when she was done, she turned to Itachi, not knowing why he made her read it. She placed the paper on the table. "The family won the case again."

She did not get why until he stated, "I was defending on behalf of that family."

Sakura blinked, processing that information. She knew that some lecturers were only doing lecturing as a part-time job but from what she heard from Sasuke, she had always thought that Itachi was a full-time lecturer. "You're a lawyer?"

"A barrister, actually. Other than my mother, my colleagues, and now, you, no one else knows."

She did not know what to say.

"The date of the hearing was brought forward," she realized that he was avoiding mentioning too much information on it. "I had to leave for Suna immediately. I apologize for making you doubt my intentions in courting you, Sakura."

"Why didn't you tell me when you have time?"

His lips formed a thin line. "I was always told that I have a tendency to get so focussed on the job."

Sakura knew that the preparations for a court hearing took more than just a day and it could be long. She saw it on TV and she would not be surprised if in real life, it took more than that amount of time.

 _She wanted to give this a chance,_ she reminded herself.

They were engulfed in silence once again but this time, it was because Sakura had a few questions to ask but at the same time, she did not want to ask too much. She knew that Itachi was comfortable with only this amount to tell her and if she wanted to get to know him better, she was not supposed to push him out of his comfort zones.

Itachi gave her time to think and trust him. She had to give him time to be more comfortable with her to tell her everything.

She still did not know what Itachi liked about her. She knew, though, that he somehow knew her but the extent of how much he knew her, she did not know.

"This time, I forgive you," she started. Then, she continued, "But I would like it if you tell me if you have to go somewhere for so long. You don't have to tell me everything in detail but I just need to know that you are somewhere," her voice ended on a high note as if she wanted to continue but not sure if she should. After taking a gulp, she continued again but this time, more quietly. "For a reason. I need to know that you are somewhere for a reason. A valid one."

Itachi looked like he was going to say something but decided against it and from the look of it, he knew it was not the right time to be saying what he was going to say. "I'll try, Sakura. But I would like you to know that I am telling you the truth when I said that I am not avoiding you."

Sakura did not understand why he needed to stress that when she had forgiven him.

She smiled. "You look tired. Did you come here immediately after you arrived?"

He nodded and Sakura noticed for the first time that he was leaning against the sofa stiffly, his body still tired from the long journey.

Her medic senses kicked in and without thinking much, she told him, "You should probably get some sleep."

"Yes, I was going to go after-"

"Here. You can sleep here. I have an extra futon. I'll bring it out for you." When he opened his mouth to protest, she stopped him again, "I assumed that you drove yourself here and seeing you this tired, do you really think that I will let you drive yourself home in your condition?"

Her heart fluttered when the corners of his mouth twitched into a small smile. "I understand. But I can get the futon out myself. I don't want to intrude on you more than I already am."

"You are not intruding on me, Itachi. I'm the one inviting you." She stood up and told him, "You drink the tea first and then you should probably take a shower." She pointed to a door next to an open one revealing an ironing board indicating that it was a laundry room. "The shower is right over there with an adjoining toilet and erm…I think Naruto and Sasuke still have some shampoos and shower gels left. You can definitely tell which one is whose."

"Thank you, Sakura."

Awkwardly, not knowing what else to say as her thoughts were finally screaming the fact that Uchiha Itachi was sleeping over at her place, she said, "I'll…I'll bring out the futon first."

She was about to go when Itachi grabbed her wrist. Her heart gave a start.

"Stay here. You can bring that out later."

When he let her wrist go, she hesitantly sat back down. She was watching him as he ate the snacks and drank his tea and she was vaguely aware of how her face started to heat up. She was aware of his attractiveness, she knew. She was attracted, yes, but there was that one question whether the attraction went beyond his looks.

When he looked at her, she was startled. She knew that he knew that she was watching him. She realized that because his movement had gotten so stiff. She liked it that he was aware of her too as she was of him.

"Do you want to go out tomorrow?"

She was not at all surprised by her question. She had been thinking about it for days. She had always wanted to ask him out when she saw him since that night. She knew that she could not depend on him taking the first steps all the time as she could tell from the way he did them that he was not used to this.

It took a lot of her courage to take the first step, to take an initiation of something. The only reason why she was doing this was because she promised Ino and herself that she would take the risk.

The timing of that question came out as a surprise for her and it took a lot of her to not babble up some things because one thing she wanted from asking this was to show Itachi that she was trying. She wanted him to know that she really did want to get to know him. She did not want him to avoid her again although that had only been her negative thinking.

It took a lot of them to make this work. She was fighting her past wounds in order to take this risk. He was not used to this and he was also taking a bigger risk by confessing to her, not that Sakura knew of this. Yet.

What mattered now was the fact that she did right by asking him out if the happy, unbelieving glint in his eyes was any indication.

"It would be my honour."

* * *

 **AN: I apologize that this is uploaded later than I intended for it to. I had been busy with getting ready to go back for the summer break and I am still a bit jetlag. I apologize if there are some grammatical and spelling errors in this chapter. Personally, I am not really satisfied with how this chapter turned out but I believe that it is adequate for whatever I have planned to happen in the next few chapters but anyway let me know your opinion on this!**

 **The case in this fanfic is fictional and I tried to stay away from an actual case as much as possible while trying to make it sound legit.**

 **I would like to claim, again, that the case is fictional and any similarity with a real life case is not intended.**

 **Anyway, I would like to thank you all for the reviews, the favorites and alerts! I will address XxBirdxOfxHermesxX question here regarding their age.**

 **Sakura and the others are in their second year of University and so they must be around 21 years old. Since Itachi is older than Sasuke by 6 years (?) in canon, he is around 27 years old here. I want to keep the fact that he is a prodigy here and so I made him the youngest University lecturer in this story.**

 **I will try to answer any questions you guys might have where I can without spoiling the story too much!**

 **And congrats on Siralia and everyone else who just finished their finals!**

 **Please do leave a review and tell me what you think! Anonymous reviews are accepted!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or the characters in it. I apologize if this is similar to some other fanfic and I can assure you that this fanfic is as original as it can be.**

* * *

 **Chapter 5: Sealed**

Last night, it did not seem like a bad idea setting up the guest's futon like she usually did. It did not cross her mind that usually, she set up the extra futon for either Naruto or Sasuke or Ino or both Naruto and Sasuke, never someone else.

She always woke up on her right side which was coincidentally where she usually set up the futon at. Usually, it took a lot of her to just keep herself awake after waking up but that day, she found herself more than half awake when she woke up to the handsome features of Uchiha Itachi.

It was also probably coincidental that he tended to sleep on his left side because Sakura just could not imagine Itachi as a wild sleeper.

It was bad enough that he looked good in Sasuke's monotonous-coloured sleepwear that he left at her place though it looked a bit short on him. Sakura was aware of the obvious height difference between the brothers but until now, she did not realize how much.

No wonder Sasuke was so sensitive about his height. There was one time especially when Naruto seemed to be growing a head taller and Sasuke seemed to panic, though he would not admit it. His diet during that period changed suddenly, consisting of eggs, some dairy goods and spinaches. That was saying something as Sasuke tended to avoid consuming any dairy or greens related. Sasuke had always been a picky eater and she knew this as he had always dumped those groups of foods on her plate during their high school days. He looked almost smug when he grew a few inches taller than Naruto did. He even shoved the fact to the blond that he could never reach his height and would always be shorter than him.

Yeah, right. He was lucky that he managed to grow way taller than Naruto did.

She watched as Itachi's chest heaved up and down. A smile found its way to her lips as she noted that even in his sleep, he was quiet and reserved. His lips were parted and his hair covered a part of his face. It took a lot not to pull them away so that she could see him clearly, afraid that he might wake up. Sasuke was a very light sleeper, unlike Naruto. It would not be a surprise to her if Itachi was one too.

The stress line on his face was less accentuated now that he seemed less tense. It was still there but that was fine because Sakura knew that it would be almost impossible to get rid of it once it was there. It added more charm to his handsome features anyway. She knew no other person who would look as good as he did with those imperfections on his looks. If Sasuke was the one who had it, it would look out of place on his pretty face.

Something in the back of her mind told her that she would not mind waking up to this sight every day. Surprised by that thought, she immediately sat up. Now, that was a bit unexpected. She had promised herself that the next relationship she would be going into would be a serious one. But this was a bit too fast and it seemed rushed. She refused to make a decision without being extremely sure of it.

"Sakura?" she heard a tired voice called.

Her abrupt movement might have startled him awake. "Sorry, did I wake you up?"

"It's fine." He stretched his limbs. Sasuke tended to describe his brother like some kind of a perfect robot and looking at this, she was again reminded that Itachi was only human and as perfect as he was, he still had some imperfections. He reached for his phone that he placed on his right. Sakura vaguely noted how he was squinting and she knew it was not because of the sun. "It's half past eight."

Sakura did not know whether he was saying it for her sake or he thought that he was thinking it in his head. But she did not say anything about it and instead asked, "Are you short-sighted?" It was dark outside and it was the only probable explanation for his squinting.

"Hn."

Sakura took that as an affirmative.

Curious, she crawled to his side. He immediately sat up and he stiffly looked at her when she stared at him. She was actually staring at his eyes but to him, it felt like she was staring at him.

"Have you gotten it looked at?"

Sakura assumed she was imagining it when she heard a gulp when he calmly replied. "I did. I usually wear contact lenses outside."

"And glasses at home, I hope?"

He nodded.

She moved away from him when she realized that she was making him uncomfortable. She got off her futon and looked for her home slippers. She was praying in her head that he did no realize that she was avoiding looking at him. "How bad is it?"

"They're both currently at minus six."

That was quite bad. Sakura noted that it might be due to the fact his line of work required a lot of reading and it was inevitable that it would cause some strain on his eyes.

"I'm going to make us some breakfast." She did not look at Itachi. Instead, "I'm gonna go use the bathroom for a bit first though. Do you mind if I use it first?"

"No."

She felt like she bolted to the bathroom too fast but she did not care at that time.

* * *

Sakura turned the tap to its fullest and let water flowed through it in large amount in an (hopefully, successful) attempt to muffle her scream and rants. She tried muffling her scream with her palm but the water was a back-up just in case her hand did nothing much to suppress her voice.

She was just thankful that her water bill was on fixed payment. However, she knew that she was wasting water right now when the people in Suna were probably hoping to be able to use this amount without worrying about the weekly water limit that was set by their Council.

Just what the hell was she thinking when she crawled next to him and stared at him so openly?

She was not thinking straight, obviously. _That was what she was telling herself_. She was a medic (in training), after all, and it was her instinct to want to know about a person's condition when she was aware that there was one. _That was the excuse she allowed for herself._

The truth was simpler than that. She was worried. She, Sakura, was worried about Itachi's well-being. She knew that being short-sighted was normal but it was something that she could not help. One thing about knowing too much about things like these was that you became afraid that someone you know and care was particularly vulnerable to the worse ones. It did not matter whether that symptom pointed to that particular disease or not as long as it was possible for him to have that disease.

Last time, Naruto had complained to her about feeling some pain in his chest and that there were times when his shoulders and neck were aching. He also mentioned that he had some trouble breathing. From what she had learnt during the duration of her course, she emotionally deducted that he had angina. If he had angina, it meant that he was susceptible to having a heart attack in the future and that scared her. However, when she brought him to the general practitioner in their University's Hospital, they were told that it was only an inflammation which she later found out was caused by Naruto's excessive stretching of his limbs. She ended up happily punching the idiot on the arm for worrying her too much causing the doctor to look at her sternly.

This led her to the realization that somehow Itachi had crawled up from being someone she barely knew to someone she cared a lot for. And she had only talked to him for a couple of times.

She splashed water onto her face, trying to cool it down but to no avail. She was acting like someone who just had her first crush and had just stood so close to him that butterflies were starting to fly around in her stomach.

"Calm down, Sakura. Calm down."

But how could she calm down? Never had she ever brought her boyfriend or any guy she was dating home. Granted, her only actual boyfriends were Sasuke and Naruto but even them, it was only after it was clear that they could only be friends that they started having sleepovers. The point was, she never brought any male she was supposedly interested in home and Itachi was the first one.

True, she had invited him to sleep over because he looked so tired and her conscience just would not let him drive back home in that state. Therefore, in a way, she was not bringing someone she was dating home. She was, in a way, providing a place to rest for someone who needed it so much.

But who was she kidding. She was interested in Itachi, no matter how much she wanted to deny it. There was that attraction to him that she could not help but feel what was with the way he interacted with her that made her think that she might know him a bit more than anyone else.

She stubbornly told herself that they were not dating…yet. They were still in the process of knowing each other.

So the fact still remained that it was the first time that she brought a guy home.

She took her toothbrush and accidentally squeezed more toothpaste than she needed. She cursed. She hurriedly led the toothbrush to her teeth.

Her eyes strayed to look at the toothbrush leaning against one of the spare mugs that she put there for her guests.

And for the second time that day, she thought that if this was going to be the norm, she would not mind about it at all.

Not at all.

* * *

Sakura worriedly looked around as she waited for Itachi who was now filling in petrol into his car. The thought never crossed her mind until today. It was not until Itachi was inside the car pulling the straps of his seatbelt to put it on that she asked.

"Aren't you worried that other students might see us together like this?"

Itachi turned to her, eyebrow slightly raised.

"I mean, I'm not worried about that," she corrected his thoughts because she knew that he was thinking that she had second thoughts. "I just don't want to jeopardize your work."

He turned to the front. "There's no formal rule about dating a student, Sakura." That sentence alone was enough to erase her worries. How did he always know what to say to her to keep her thoughts at bay? He drove away from the gas station and headed to the direction of the town. "But if you are not sure whether it is a good idea going to town, I don't mind going somewhere less busy."

"No,no, it's fine." Sakura assured him hurriedly. "I don't really have any idea where to go anyway."

They did not talk much after that. They commented randomly on anything of interest that they saw. Well, at least Sakura did while Itachi just replied to whatever she was saying.

One thing she realized was the fact that while Sasuke would usually ignore her whenever she made some random comments, which she often did whenever she felt nervous, Itachi would humour her. He was obviously aware that she was feeling nervous so in doing so, she knew he was trying to calm her. Even though on the surface it seemed like there was not much difference between the brothers, there was actually a lot. She could never imagined Sasuke acting the way Itachi did.

Sakura stepped out of the car after Itachi after he was done parking his car few blocks away from the main shopping area. Sakura had a feeling that he could have gotten a closer parking space if he wanted to but from what she had seen of him herself, she learnt that Itachi was a very humble person. Never once had she seen him used his family's influence unlike a certain Uchiha who she was more familiar with.

She walked to the back of the car where Itachi was waiting awkwardly. He clicked on the remote to lock his car. What she did not expect when she approached him was him extending his hand towards her. He was looking at her with a light pink hue on his cheek. She could not tell whether that was due to the heat or him acting shy but she knew that the fluttering of her heart was caused by his action. Smiling shyly, she accepted his hand.

They walked towards the shopping mall, hand gripping on the other lightly. There were a couple of people who recognized Itachi but they did not bother them. The only thing that was bothering her was the fact that there were many females who were taking not so subtle glances at Itachi and there were some who were outright gawking at the tall dark-haired male.

They had nowhere they wanted to go so they ended up walking around, stopping by some store once in a while. She found out a few things just in those few hours. Apart from his obvious liking of the colours black and red, he also liked light blue and viridian. The second colour made her skin heated, knowing that her eyes were that very shade. He seemed to also have some kind of a sweet tooth to the point that he promised to bring her to the place that he usually went to for some dango. She also managed to found that he was previously working as a full-time barrister when he decided to worked part-time as both barrister and lecturer.

She wanted so much to ask why he was not the one inheriting the Uchiha Company and why he chose to do law instead of business. However, judging from the way he was avoiding mentioning anything that would lead to that conversation topic, she concluded that it might still be too early to touch that topic.

"Do you mind resting for a bit?" He asked after about an hour and a half of walking around.

He did not look tired and if someone was tired, it was her. Her pace slowed down sometime during their walk and it took a lot of her energy just trying to keep up with him.

 _Was he asking that for her sake?_ But doubt was planted in her train of thought. He worded his question in a way as if he wanted to rest for a bit and worried, she shot a question back at him.

"Why? Are you alright?" She looked at his face, trying to see whether he was straining himself, forcing himself to act alright. However, he was not breathing hard or anything. He looked alright. He was alright. But nevertheless, she needed a confirmation.

"I'm fine." He glanced at her for a bit and the silent question reached her.

"I'm fine, too," she forced a smile. _No, she was not._ It was her first time wearing the flats that she got from Ino a year ago. When she first wore it early that day, she felt that it was a bit tight but she still wore it anyway, thinking that it would expand a bit after a few minutes or hours of use. She was regretting her decision now. She was more than sure that there was a bad blister forming at the back of her ankle on both of her feet. She winced when she felt the something sharp touching one of her newly formed blister. No wonder Ino willingly gave these shoes to her. They looked kind of expensive too.

He did not call her out on her lie. She was put under the impression that she was doing a good job hiding her pain. However, he still insisted that they should rest. Unfortunately, Sakura was a very stubborn person so his insistence was annoying her. She kept trying to make him believe that she was fine but no matter how hard she tried, in the end, he still got to make her sit when they found an empty bench while he left for somewhere.

"Jerk," she muttered under hr breath.

She did not get why he was insisting when he ended up leaving her alone on the bench. She was sitting there stupidly now, looking around her like a child who was forced by her parents to wait for them so that she would not make them buy her things that would waste money. She was cursing him in her head but stopped when she wondered what exactly he was thinking. This was Uchiha Itachi, the one person who never did anything without any reason, if the rumours and Sasuke's stories were true. It was not her fault for questioning their validity when they were proven wrong every single time she got to know Itachi better.

She reckoned it was good that he left her alone though. She did not want him to know of her blisters. She pulled off her shoes. She examined her blisters and cringed at how bad they looked. She reached for her bag and rummaged through it for her small packet of tissue. Pulling out two tissues, she pressed each to each blister to dry them. She was careful enough to make sure that she did not remove any loose skin. She knew she looked funny bending down to press tissue to both of her feet but she did not care. She was going to treat herself before Itachi returned.

She half-expected someone to recognize her and went up to her to talk. She knew she was being paranoid. She knew that Itachi was fine with being seen together with her but there was still that pessimistic thought that he was lying. Maybe it was due to her experience with….. No, she was not going to think about that now. She was not going to let her memories affect her possible happiness more than they already did.

Sakura did not realize it when Itachi kneeled down in front of her. It was only until he placed his hand over one of hers at the back of the ankle that she was aware of it.

"Itachi!" she acknowledged in surprise with a voice that was a bit louder than usual.

"I bought some bandage for you and a pair of footwear." Sakura awkwardly let her hand stayed when he applied a bit of a pressure to her hand. Her eyes strayed to the paper bag that he placed down next to him for a bit. He moved and her eyes went back to him as she dazedly watched his every movement. He was pulling away in order to take out a bandage and told her, "I did not know your size so I told the lady at the store that I'll be there again if there is any problem."

"Erm…" She felt bad for cursing him and for having bad thoughts of him. "Thanks…?" She looked away, ashamed. "I'm…I'm sorry for thinking bad about you."

He did not look surprised when she said that. She felt guiltier than she was.

He did not say anything. He placed his hand at the back of her hand again but this time to pull it away. He applied the bandage to the blister as gently as he could and Sakura was a bit taken aback with how used to this he acted. Just how often had he treated blisters? Was there any other woman who had experienced this gentleness?

Her heart clenched and something was burning inside her with that thought.

He did the same thing with the other foot. He was almost done with his work when she blurted out the thing that had been on her head since his confession.

"What do you like about me?"

He was not startled and she knew that he was waiting for her to ask about it. He made sure that the bandages were covering the blisters perfectly before he stood to sit next to her. He gave her his utmost attention. The intensity of his eyes made her heart race and her brain went haywire. For the first time, she noted that his eyes were a few shades lighter than Sasuke's. Similarly, though, there was that amount of privacy that kept their feelings from being known by others.

"It's a bit difficult to start," he admitted after about five seconds of staring. Those five seconds were more than enough to burn everything inside Sakura as she felt everything inside her melt.

Did he really not realize what he was doing to her? Or was it intentional?

"Do…How do you know me?"

She was not sure when the people around them started to decrease but they did. There were still some people but it was not as much as initially. They had their much needed privacy to have this conversation. Sakura was about to suggest to go elsewhere where they would have it but considering the turn of events now, she felt like her suggestion was not needed.

He tensed. Gaining a bit of control over herself, she narrowed her eyes at him.

"Don't lie to me. Please tell me the truth." She felt that she was being pushy and it was making Itachi felt on edge. "I did not have any kind of a relationship with you before this, Itachi. I know that wherever you get to know me from, it must be from a third party."

He let out a sigh. It was not an exasperated sigh but it was more like one that indicated that he would willingly let himself being brought around with the flow of the conversation. "What are your guesses?"

She thought about this before. "Sasuke," she answered curtly, wanting him to be the one to do the talking so that she would not feel like she was being encouraged to act on her emotions during this conversation. She sadly knew that she was the kind of person who would act according to her temper.

He nodded thoughtfully. "You're not wrong. I did know some things from Sasuke."

"Itachi," she whined at his stalling.

"I have always known that Sasuke is quite close to you. However, I never really paid any attention to you until Sasuke practically forced me to listen to one of his…angry rants…about you."

She almost felt her heart stopped. She was sure that Sasuke was annoyed by her a lot of times before but there was only that one time that she was sure when he was extremely frustrated by her. Or specifically, by his inability to turn her down because he was so afraid that their friendship would end just like that. Her face reddened from embarrassment.

"He told you?" her voice was an octave higher and it sounded accusing. She was not accusing him of anything, though. It was just that… Did he say angry rants? So this happened more than once?! Why did he even bother listening? He was the older brother, he could have denied Sasuke even if Sasuke forced him to listen! She did not want to hear any more of this. She was afraid of…what exactly? "I…I think that alone is enough information. I, let's-"

"No, Sakura." He pulled her hands and kept them in place, silently telling her that she should not run away from him, that he would not end this conversation at that. He kept his voice stern. "You should stop running away from everything that is making you feeling uncomfortable."

She pursed her lips and looked down at their hands.

Itachi did not need her encouragement right now because he was tired. He was tired of letting her escape from him. She mentioned herself last night that she was not lying when she said she wanted to get to know him better. She was going to get to know him better.

"I know everything there is to know about you from him. I know that your parents died and you used to live with your grandparents until you move to you own place in your final year of high school. I know that you chose to take medicine because your mother died of a surgery that went bad." He felt her hand moved when he said that so he soothingly rubbed his thumb on the back of one of her hands.

"But there are also things that I found out myself." He readied himself, knowing that whatever her reaction would be, it would be something extreme. "I know Hatake Kakashi."

It was instantaneous. Her head shot upwards and her eyes caught his captive. Her pupils dilated, showing her shock.

Everyone who knew of what happened between her and Hatake Kakashi avoided saying his name. The number of people who did know were little as what happened between them was a secret and she would really like it to remain as so. When Itachi mentioned his name, something snapped in Sakura as dark, insecure and extremely negative thoughts started to cloud her mind.

The wheels in her mind were turning but not in a good way. Things went into place and for the first time ever, things made sense.

He knew her from Kakashi-sensei. Kakashi-sensei must have told him of what happened between them causing him to take pity on her. That would definitely explain why he was trying to assure her that he was not avoiding her last night. His kindness to her was unlike any she had experienced and now, she was sure it was to right what his friend did to her.

Bile started to build up in her stomach. She felt dizzy. Nothing made any sense right now yet she understood things better than before. Her feet were not covered with footwear yet but that did not matter right then as she tried to stand. She wanted to get away. Now!

Unfortunately for her, Itachi's hands kept her in place.

"Let go," she said quietly.

"Sakura…" he trailed.

"Let me go, Itachi. I understand all of it now. You're trying to right his wrongs but I don't want pity, Itachi!" Her eyes started to water at the pressure of the myriad of emotions she was feeling.

"No," his voice was allowing no argument and for the first time, she was very much aware of Itachi's occupation as a lawyer. "I will not let you fall into those thoughts you are currently having." He used his silent promise against her, "You promised me that you wanted to get to know me better before you decide anything. Then you will need to hear what I have to say before you blindly accept whatever your mind had conjured up."

Lawyers existed for arguments, she bitterly thought. Itachi must be used to this so it was no wonder that he knew exactly what to say to make her go along with whatever he was trying to do.#

He knew things about her too.

"Get away from those thoughts , Sakura! I am not playing you right now. I am not trying to right whatever Hatake is doing. I am not pitying you!" He was not shouting but his voice did raise a bit, hitting the right nerves every single time.

Sakura was not in her right mind so she spat, "Then what the hell are you doing appearing into my life so suddenly?"

"I like you," he squeezed her hands, voice much louder than before. "Right now you might not believe me. I know what you're thinking. "What do I know about you?", "What do I like about you?" I want you to remind you that you don't know much about me to make things up in your mind."

"You can make things up. You can-"

"I can but I won't and I don't want to." Sakura was taken aback by that one emotion swimming in his eyes. Pain. "I have told you before. I wanted clarity. Clarity, Sakura. I did not expect much from confessing to you. Do you know why I want clarity, Sakura?"

Sakura said nothing.

"Because I was aware of you for so long. I thought that it would go away after some time but it never did. I was feeling hopeless."

Sakura processed the information as rationally as she could though there were still some negative thoughts seeping through it.

"You asked me what I like about you. Then I'll tell you now. At first when I heard about you from Sasuke, I admired your dedication to your friends. I admired your putting your important people first before yourself. Then I eventually started to become aware of your determination," he avoided from mentioning determination for what but it was hinted by his next words, "I thought that I would not mind having that determination focussed on me. You're also intelligent." This time, it was his gaze that was in control of their eye contact. "Whatever this feeling is, it was haunting me. It was very simple. If you had turned me down, I would try to move on. But you wanted to give this a chance and I let you. You can't just take away the hope you gave me."

This was the most he had said to her. It was also the most emotional. Maybe it was the pain that made her believe him. She understood feeling hopeless more than anyone else she knew. She was sure that the pain that she heard in his voice was found in hers to if she ever talked about… No one can fake that amount of faint. It sounded so genuine.

She felt his grip weakened and it was almost instinctive how her hand moved in his so that it was hers that was gripping his now and she squeezed his hands the way he did before.

There was that betraying thought that told her that it did not matter that he knew who he knew. She still wanted to give this a chance.

But it did matter.

 _But they were both hurting_ , that thought pointed out again.

She was not the only one who was trapped in her emotions.

It came out as almost a whisper, but it was enough for both of them to hear. "You asked me to be your girlfriend."

"I did. That's what I wanted. That's still what I want."

"Even though it comes with a price?"

He flinched. There was something that he was not telling her. "Yes," he breathed.

Sakura was going to ask something again when her stomach growled, breaking the atmosphere going on around them. She flushed in embarrassment, especially when she heard what sound like a chuckle from the man in front of her.

He coughed, looking away while pulling his hands away, trying to hide his amusement. There was still some pain in his eyes when he looked back at her. "We should probably go eat, it's a bit past lunch time already."

He acted normal. Sakura did not know what but something told her that he was forcing himself to act normal. It was probably the forced smile that looked undeniably strained.

Then a memory hit her. There was one time when Naruto bugged Sasuke to tell him if Itachi had a girlfriend. It was a bit out of it and for a moment, Sasuke cringed and asked.

"Are you into my brother, dobe?" his face was covered in an unconcealed disgust. Sakura was looking at Naruto at that point, the very same thought crossing her mind.

"What?!" Naruto's eyes looked like they were going to fall out of their sockets. "The hell? How did you get to that thought? I was asking because someone was interested in your brother!"

Sakura had giggled at that point. "If you do though, it is kinda believable." She was teasing both of them at one time. And true enough, Naruto looked at her in disbelief and Sasuke looked absolutely revolted right then.

Sasuke decided to give Naruto a warning. "Dobe, if you-"

But Naruto interrupted him. "I'm not, okay?! I do not like your brother that way, stupid teme!" Then, in a more sheepish voice he admitted while looking warily at Sasuke, "I was asking for help from a girl in my class. I might have agreed to give your brother's number in return for her help but it is only now that the thought of him having a girlfriend crossed my mind."

Sasuke looked torn between getting angry and feeling relieved but he ended up choosing getting angry. It looked like he wanted to pounce and beat the lights out of Naruto. The reaction was expected considering his brother complex.

Sakura decided to step in, not wanting her two best friends to trash around her living room. "Where did you get Sasuke's brother's number, though?" she was curious. She knew that Naruto dropped by Sasuke's place as much as she did as they had the same sentiment about Sasuke's father.

Surprisingly, it was Sasuke who answered her. "I called him using my brother's phone once. I did not think he would save it in his phone, though," he was glaring at Naruto. "And I do not know whether my brother has a girlfriend or not and I do not intend to know. Do tell the girl to get the hell away from Aniki though."

It was only later that night that Sasuke told them that his brother was a very private person. He was simply not the kind of person to open up and tell anyone that he had a girlfriend. He even admitted that he did not know what was going on in his brother's mind most of the time.

She realized that Itachi was willingly going out of his comfort zone trying to let her see himself. He sacrificed the amount of privacy that he practically lived his whole life with just to make her see a bit of himself. To her, it might not seem like nothing much but for someone so secluded like Itachi, it was practically a very big alien step.

She still had some suspicions but she still knew when to be thankful.

Itachi eyes widened a fraction when she kissed him on the cheek in gratitude.

"Thank you for opening up."

His lips twitched but he did not smile this time. She saw it as a good reaction as the metaphorical bad clouds that was hovering over them slowly lifted.

He gave her his hand. This time, there was a silent question with that gesture. If she did not take it, then it meant that she would run away and would continue to run away and he would let her and that would be the end of it. If she did take it, it would mean that she would stay even though she wanted to run so much. It would mean that he would get the permission to be able to make her stay even though she tried hard to run.

Either way, they would be giving up something. Either way, the pain would be inevitable.

It was scary how two small gestures were enough to set the direction where their future would be heading.

She placed her hand on his and he pulled her up.

Just like that, her fate was sealed.

* * *

 **AN: Hello, dear readers! I was planning to put this up on Sunday but since I've finished this chapter, I decided to post it up today. Anyway, thank you so much to those who reviewed and favorited and alerted! I really feel happy whenever I see those kind of stuffs as they gave me the motivation to write up the next chapter as fast as I can.**

 **Anyway, I hope you guys like this chapter! It is longer than usual but there are more ItaSaku interactions than usual too, lol.**

 **I would like to say also that I don't really have much medical knowledge more than what I have heard of and researched a bit on so do point out if there are some mistakes regarding anything medical that is mentioned in the fanfic.**

 **Please do leave a review and tell me what you think! Anonymous reviews are accepted!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer:** **I do not own Naruto or the characters in it. I apologize if this is similar to some other fanfic and I can assure you that this fanfic is as original as it can be.**

* * *

 **Chapter 6: Haunted**

Sakura was convinced that her luck for the week was turning for the worse. She never dealt with so many difficult patients in a week and it was only Thursday. There was still one day of school left but Sakura wanted to get over the week as fast as she could. After the woman who practically insulted her due to her hair in front of her child and her superiors earlier requested for a different doctor but was forced to stay with her because no one else was available, she did not think she would be able to go through another day.

She sourly slammed the door to her locker shut and went to walk out of the building. Her seniors told her during her freshman year that there would be times when she would get tired of the course. She did not believe them at that time because she was blinded by the fact that she was given the opportunity to do what she loved to do and she should embrace that opportunity. She had never thought that she would get tired of something that she had always loved to do but anyone, no matter how much they loved what they were doing, would be bored of doing the same thing every single day. There was no variety as in high school but at least she was not forced to do things that she did not like.

She had been walking home for three days straight already since her bicycle tyres were flat. She was planning on getting the tyres changed over the weekend as she needed to drop by the school's library anyway to get started on her research for her essay that was due in two weeks. She could have started on it early since it was given to her about three weeks ago but with the workload lately, she wanted to keep her weekend free. She had thought that two weeks would be enough for her research.

Boy, was she paying for it now. She did not realize how much research she needed to do until Shizune, the head lecturer for that particular module, told them they if they had not started on preparing for that essay, they better prepared for it now as it would help them with their grades. She also mentioned that this could be considered late as they needed to do some extensive research but better late than never.

She guessed she could have asked Naruto or Sasuke to help take her home. It was not the thought that she would be inconveniencing them that stopped her from asking them. God, no! She loved to convenience them if only to see their annoyed faces even though often, they always said yes to her because they knew how many times she gave up what she wanted for them. That was probably because she made sure that they were aware of it, though, effectively guilt-trapping them.

She wanted to ask Itachi and tell him of her predicament if only to see him more. She knew that he would do it but Sakura was still not comfortable asking him of such thing. It seemed like too big of a favour considering his workload. She wanted to be selfish when it came to him knowing that he would humour her but at the same time, she did not want to thinking that it would be a bit too much considering the slow progress of their relationship, whatever this was.

Furthermore, it was almost seven. The Uchihas were probably having their dinner right now because there was one time when she almost got in trouble with Sasuke's father when she called him to help her with the math homework that they had. The enraged comments made by the older Uchiha about picking up phones on a dining table were enough to make her immediately drop the call. Sasuke were mad at her the next day for getting her in trouble. She just laughed sheepishly in reply. She constantly reminded herself to never bother Sasuke between six to eight since he might still be hanging around with his family.

And Naruto… she would not even think of asking Naruto to help take her home. She would never set her feet on that dangerous two-wheeled mode of transportation of his. It did not matter how many times he tried to convince her that it was only a scooter, therefore he would not be able to speed around on it. It did not matter because the blond had already gotten into so many minor self-accidents already despite driving it so agonizingly slowly and she would not wanted to get dragged into that possibility, more so since her luck was particularly bad since the beginning of this week. Not that she wanted to get on it…ever.

Anyway she loved walking. It was something that she tended to do whenever she got things on her mind and she would be lying if she said that there was nothing on her mind right now.

Surprisingly, it was not about Itachi even though she still thought of him more than she usually did. They exchanged numbers last Sunday and they had been contacting ever since. The things they were talking about were random and even though Itachi rarely updated her on his life, she still did it. She did not know why she did it though. She just knew that the man was happy with what she was doing and Sakura had come to term with the fact that what made Itachi happy made her happy too.

It was of her past, the very same past that had been haunting her. Itachi did not know it but when Itachi told her that he would not let her run away anymore, it made her want to look back at her past. It gave her strength to at least acknowledge that she was also one to be blame for letting things hung. For letting things being left without any sort of answer.

It was not easy and looking back at the things that she believed was true made her question things that she had not even bothered to ask.

She remembered exactly how it started. It begun with a little comment by Ino, a comment that she could still remember every word of it. Ino had been in one of those silent study areas in their high school library that people tended to avoid on a daily basis but swarmed over only during exam seasons. She was with Shikamaru and Chouji, her childhood friends who Sakura were familiar with but was not as closed to as she was with Naruto, Sasuke and Ino. The comment was the subject of their heated discussion (only on Ino's part) during that time when what they were supposed to be doing was study. Arguing with two boys who would prefer things to be less troublesome (as Shikamaru would say) so that they would not get in trouble failed to leave Ino with an answer that she needed. It was not surprising that she was anxious to find Sakura to start the very same argument.

It was a comment that should have not set things in motion as it meant to be a passing remark in life since they were both not actually interested in getting the answer. Ino was simply acknowledging a fact and Sakura was not yet in frequent contact with the very subject of the small comment. But it was that very comment that set things in motion, that turned Sakura to the person with the character and attitude that she had now.

In a way, she was thankful but if she could have asked for it to happen in a different way, she would not hesitate to do that. With the attitude and character that she gained, she seemed to also gain a level of insecurity that most of her friends kept telling her was not normal. Even she was aware that it was not normal (of her, at least) to have this much insecurity. She had grown out of the insecurity for her pink hair and wide forehead (though, it was still an arguably sensitive topic) but insecurity about physical appearance was not as destructive as an emotional insecurity.

"Have you ever thought about what's under Kakashi's mask?"

Ino was not the first to make the comment. Naruto had tried to get her to join him in one of his escapade to reveal what was under their sensei's mask. There were many speculations about why he was wearing a mask on a daily basis and also why he refused to take it off no matter how many times the school headmaster told him to. There were some who believed that he wore them to hide his big lips or his teeth and that it was simply an insecurity issue. She did not hesitate to reject those speculations though because the mask fit his face just nicely and if he had those what they thought he had, they would be able to see the signs of it. Sasuke agreed with her.

She replied Ino with a, "No, I have never thought of it and I am not interested about it. Let me study, Pig. Naruto did enough of distracting already." And that was it. The conversation ended at that. She would not be surprised if the blonde annoyed someone else to get some semblance of an answer. She prayed for the sake of her best friend that the next person she talked to would give her some kind of an answer that she wanted to hear.

She did not expect it when she found him eating in a secluded area of the biology staffroom. It was past school hours and she was only there because she had planned to stay in the library until the very last announcement that they would be closing soon. She did not plan on helping the panicking practice teacher who found out that his girlfriend got into an accident to send back the paperwork he had been working on to the staffroom. She had thought that the room would be empty because it was late so she was surprised when she found him there.

Without his mask, no less.

She would not have recognized him if it was not for the gravity-defying silver hair. Sakura was not sure whether it was her imagination or whether it was the light from outside that made him glow ethereally. She found the glow fitting for someone who had a face such as his. It was no wonder that he decided to wear a mask every day at school. She would not be surprised if the girls in their school would be too busy staring at him rather than actually learning something had he not worn his mask. He was beautiful, more than anyone she had ever seen. He would definitely hurt Sasuke's ego.

His eyes widened a bit when she entered the room. If that was not an indication of his surprise, then the way his hand which was holding the snack he was eating halted in the air told her of it. He was then acting as if she had just not caught him without his mask. He calmly ate the food that was already in his hand and wiped his hand off the invisible mess he was making. He stood up and went to her and Sakura realized that she had been rooted to her position.

He took the paperwork from her hand and she unconsciously noted the way his fingers grazed hers. It was unintentional, she knew, but it made her teenage heart stuttered causing it to beat a bit too loudly in her ears.

"Is this all?" it was curt, direct. It was as if he had expected her to be there but judging from his genuine surprise earlier, he did not expect anyone to enter the room.

She stuttered out a yes. She did not know why. It was not the first time that he was so close but right then, she was aware of his scent. It was nothing special and nothing attractive but the smell of their biology experiment earlier that day and the chemicals they used made her want to lean on him.

Sakura was young and innocent and most of all, she was curious. She saluted her willpower, however, that managed to stop her from leaning forward and tried to figure out that one smell that seemed to hide under all those more obvious ones.

She had taken a hesitant step backward and bowed awkwardly in thanks, not saying anything more.

Had it been his face that attracted her?

 _Yes_ , Sakura sourly noted as she crossed the traffic light when the pedestrian light turned green. But if it had only been his face, it would not have this much impact on her.

The thought of dinner stopped her from continuing to ponder on the memory of him. She reckoned she would not have any energy to cook up even something simple so she decided to go get some takeaway.

Maybe she should splurge on some of those expensive sushi from that one restaurant Sasuke often brought them to when the trip to Ichiraku to satisfy Naruto's daily ramen craving got a bit too frequent. She hoped that her remaining days for this week would turn for the better.

* * *

She was going to pay for her sushi when she heard her name being called. She was hoping that whoever it was did not see her cringing because she was not cringing at him. She was cringing at the amount that she had to pay for the sushi.

"I got this."

She did not know what the person was thinking but he was not doing her any favour when he paid for her sushi. She did not like an act of charity when she could still take care of herself. She turned to the man with the intention to make that fact clear.

She had worded the sentence nicely in her head but when her eyes met with a pair of onyx and another pair of blue, all traces of nice left her.

"I can pay for myself, dammit!"

"Lovely to see you too," Sasuke said dryly. He pushed her out of the way to pay for her sushi. "I'll pay for her share and for table 7," he told the man behind the cashier.

She was fuming but she did not want to make a scene there. It did not help that Naruto had the nerve to smile brightly at her when she looked at him. She did not know what to feel seeing the two of them here. They had always gone out to eat together as a trio and she felt a bit betrayed that she was not aware of the outing.

Naruto could feel the accusing gaze and his face had this look that said he just had a moment of understanding whatever was happening. Grinning it off, he grabbed her arm lightly to link both of their arms together, "We texted you, y'know. We felt more betrayed when we saw you entering the restaurant but did not go to our table, Sakura-chan."

She blinked, her anger evaporating. She was reminded that she did not check her phone at all like she usually did since she entered the locker room that noon. She really wanted to get away from the place as fast as she could due to the bad day that she had. She touched her backpack with her free hand for a moment, hoping that Itachi had not texted anything yet. She looked at the clock behind the counter and noted that he probably had but she did not move to check it what was with her two nosy companions right now who she knew would not think twice about pulling away her phone. They might even reply Itachi's texts for her and she would not like that, knowing the kind of childish stuffs the two grown-up man could resort to.

Sasuke finished paying for their sushi. He grabbed her takeaway only to push it to her chest. Sakura immediately pulled her arm out of Naruto's when she saw what the jerk was about to do and she was now holding the bottom of the plastic bag with both hands.

"What the hell?" And she was going to apologize for not checking her phone too.

Naruto, realizing the particularly volatile temperament the pinkette was in, grabbed the bag and pulled her out of the restaurant. Sasuke quietly followed behind them but from his cold looks, it was obvious to Naruto that he was in an equally volatile temperament. It did not usually turn out well whenever the two were irk by each other. Both of them almost never fight but when they did, things got out of hand quite quickly. He reckoned it was because the two were always in agreement with each other. They both were so sure with their thoughts that when someone proved otherwise, they would do anything to show that they were right. It was difficult having two intelligent best friends.

He thought things were going to be less tense when Sasuke fastened his pace so that he was walking next to Sakura. However, not long after, he wished for the raven to take back his words.

"I thought you have learnt your lesson."

Sakura did not know what Sasuke was implying but Naruto did. They had been discussing it while waiting for Sakura. Sasuke had said it in an accusing tone too so Sakura's reaction was foreseeable.

"I don't know what your problem is, Sasuke-kun. But I'm freaking tired and I do not want to argue right now," she said through gritted teeth, trying to keep her rage in check. Naruto was grabbing her arm again, rubbing comforting circles onto her skin. It did little to distract her but she was made aware that they were still in public. Seeing the pedestrian, she told them, "I'm going to go now and," she glared at Sasuke, "When I see you next, I'm hoping that you won't act so much like a jerk."

She tried to pull out of Naruto's touch gently but with her haste to get away, she did it a bit too harshly.

They knew that she was tired because her eyes were sporting eye bags. The woman had always been a cheerful person and the lack of smile turning their way led them to that knowledge.

They just looked as she clicked on the button for the pedestrian with not much of a farewell to them. Naruto noted that she did not go to the bicycle park like she usually did.

"What happened to your bicycle, Sakura-chan?" he asked, feeling elated that he was the one who realized it. Yet, his voice was laced with genuine curiosity.

"The tyres are flat," she answered tiredly, voice detached as if her mind was elsewhere.

Naruto saw that and he was hit with worry. Not trusting the girl to walk home alone and yet knowing that the girl was not going to get on his scooter because she was adamant in making him realize that she was not going to set foot on his scooter ever, he nudged Sasuke. The silent Uchiha glared at him and acted like he did not get what the blonde was making him do.

When Sasuke said nothing, Naruto decided to take things to his hands. "The teme can take you home," he told her while at the same time telling Sasuke to do as he said.

"No," they both said simultaneously. The in unison reply caused the two to glare at each other and Naruto thought that this was a lost cause. Of course they would not listen to him. Sasuke almost never listened to him and Sakura was a bit better but there were still times when she would not do as he said. How did they manage to date without getting much into a fight again? Oh yeah, Sakura used to be quite complying when it came to Sasuke.

Deciding to be a bit more forceful as he was getting a bit frustrated, he pulled the girl away from the pedestrian just as the light was turning green. "Well, I'm not going to let you go home by yourself when you look like that, Sakura-chan. It's either you get on my scooter or Sasuke will get you home." Continuing in afterthought, he lifted the bag of sushi. "I have your food hostage."

She looked at the food like she had forgotten about it. She seemed more out of it than he thought she was.

He heard a sigh and Sasuke reluctantly said, "I'll take you home."

There was something about his tone that made her realize that he was going to continue what he was going to say earlier. She did not want that, not much because she did not want to hear it but more to because she had no energy to listen to him lecturing her. On what, she was not sure and she did not want to find out. Not now, at least.

She was hungry, yes, and she did not want to cook dinner. However if sacrificing her dinner would help her escape this predicament, then she would.

"I'm fine going home by myself. It's only thirty minutes' walk from here."

But she forgot the kind of person Sasuke was. If he said the grass is blue, then it must be blue. People would be paid to make them blue. If he said he would take her home, he would be taking her home. The male was so used to getting things his way and he would not let this be any different. He ended up grabbing her arm and pulled her to the direction of his car despite her wild protests.

Naruto knew people were looking at them and while smiling apologetically at the ruckus they were making, he suddenly thought of whether it was a good idea letting the two alone in a confined space when they were practically at each other's throat.

Naruto's thought turned out to be well-founded but there was no way for him to know that.

* * *

"I'm against you being with my brother."

It was said with not much vigour that it left Sakura wondering whether he was actually against it. He had always said things as if it was a fact but this time, there was not much clarity. But Sakura was still mad at him and any doubts about his words flew out of her head quite quickly.

"I'm not with him."

"Yet, you're not. But I know where your relationship is going." Sakura felt that the turn to the right that he took was a bit too sharp than it should be when she was made to hold onto the seat.

"What the hell?!"

But her exclamation went ignored.

"He did not go eat dinner at home like he usually did when he returned from his trip." She felt him glancing more than she saw it. "I went to his place because okaa-san made me send some dinner to him but he was not home. Where do you think he went to?"

She knew he was referring to the weekend but she remained tight-lipped. It was no use asking how he was so sure as she knew that he knew. She just wanted this conversation to stop. When he said nothing a minute after that, she grew impatient.

"I did not know about that."

She regretted opening her mouth when she found out that he wanted her to be impatient. He wanted this conversation to go somewhere. He wanted her to speak out her mind.

She realized bitterly that he was trying to rile her up and was making quite a good job at it.

"You don't know a lot about him." It was ironic how he was the one saying that to her. She learnt that there were a lot of things that Sasuke did not really know about Itachi. But she still could not deny that the things that Sasuke did know she did not know yet so in a way he was right.

"I don't get why you're saying this. You know Itachi-"

They were nearing her home and she suspected that he was getting anxious because the conversation was not going anywhere contrary to what he expected. Her suspicions were confirmed when he blurted than tactfully saying, "This is not about Itachi, this is about _you_ getting hurt because you do not know what you're getting yourself into!"

Sakura was taken aback at the amount of force in that statement of his, her own anger forgotten. She stared at him, bewildered at the finding that he was worried about her. She had always known that he was protective of her but he had never shown it so openly until today. There was fire in his eyes when he entered the road to her apartment block but more than anger, it was the frustration at her lack of reply.

Wordlessly, she reached for the bag of sushi and the car came to a stop. She opened the door, making him think that she was going to leave the conversation at that.

But before she went out of the car, she expressed her thoughts as clearly as she could.

She was not been fully aware of her true feelings herself until the words left her mouth.

"I don't mind taking the risk if it's with Itachi. I don't mind getting hurt if it helps me get to know him better. I know your brother is a kind man and I kind of want to exploit that side of him. I don't want anyone else to know about it. But thank you, Sasuke-kun. Thank you for worrying about me."

She did not look back at him. Not even when she was in front of her door, aware that he was staring at her through his car window.

* * *

She had not given Sasuke the opportunity to reply to her. She had expected him to pick up his phone to call or text her something like, 'The conversation is not over,' but there was none.

She did receive a text though but it was from Itachi. She was in the process of replying to his reply to her earlier reply telling her to get as much rest as she could when she told him that she had a long day.

But the text was answer enough to the conversation between her and Sasuke.

' _Sasuke told me about your bicycle. If you don't mind, I can pick you up for school tomorrow. I'll accompany you to get the tyres changed too. May I know what time your class starts tomorrow?"_

She would never be able to guess now how important it was for Sasuke to support the relationship that they were heading towards.

* * *

 **AN: Here's Chapter 6! It is a bit late considering the fact that I finished this two days ago... but anyway, here it is! Again, thank you for the reviews, favorites and alerts! They motivated me a lot. I hope you guys enjoy reading this chapter too!**

 **Please do leave a review and tell me what you think! Anonymous reviews are accepted!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or the characters in it. I apologize if this is similar to some other fanfic and I can assure you that this fanfic is as original as it can be.**

* * *

 **Chapter Seven: Reason**

The first time Sakura woke up after first falling asleep, it was three in the morning. She went back to sleep but was awake again at around fifteen minutes to four. When she woke up again at twenty-five minutes to five, she gave up sleeping altogether. She knew exactly why she was feeling restless. It was her first time getting picked up by a male who was not her late father, Sasuke or Naruto. She noted that she might not be acting like this if the one picking up was not who was picking her up.

Every single time she woke up, she would check her phone for any text but every single time, she found none. She cursed the game request notifications from Facebook whenever her notification light turned blue for giving her false hopes. She blindly groped for her phone which she usually placed above her pillow. When she still did not found it, she panicked and practically threw her duvet off her torso and went on her knees to look for it.

Still, none.

Letting out something that sounded like a scream, she rushed to the light switch and rushed back to her futon. Did someone entered into her room last night and stole her phone? Did some kind of advanced supernatural entity decided to spirit away her phone into the other world? Did-

Oh, nevermind, she found it right under her pillow.

Frowning, she wondered why she did not find it earlier.

Not bothering to turn off the light, she threw herself back onto her futon, hands hurrying across the screen working to enter the password on her phone. Her heart still dropped at seeing the lack of text from Itachi despite seeing no notification on the lock screen.

She clicked on the message icon and pressed on the conversation thread with Itachi. She scrolled through their texts, smiling while reading their previous texts, inwardly hoping that a text would magically appear on her screen. She contemplated sending one to him (a greeting, a reply to his last text, anything) but thought against it as her courage was short-lived. She traced her finger on Itachi's name.

 _Dialling…_

Shit, did she just call Itachi?!

She heard the ringing tone after a few seconds and hurried to cancel the call but when the second ring sounded, she heard him picking up.

"Hello?" She outwardly cursed her luck.

She slowly brought the phone to her ear and squeaked. "Hello, Itachi." She coughed to correct her voice but it still would not come out right. "Sorry for waking you up. I'll put down the-"

"It's alright, Sakura. I was not asleep anyway." There was a bit of a silence before in a quieter voice, he admitted. "I'm quite excited for today."

Her heart warmed at the confession. A giggle escaped her as she, too, admitted, "Me too."

"Why are you calling me at this hour, Sakura?" He seemed to realize how overly direct the question was when he went on to say, "It's not that I'm complaining about it but it's a bit unexpected."

"Honestly?" She bit her lips. "I was going to send you a text; a greeting text but," she laughed uneasily, "I accidentally called you." It was a white lie but it was true that she thought of texting him. She was not going to tell him that she was reading back their texts. She was not going to tell him that she was missing him quite a lot either.

She heard a low chuckle. "I'm glad that you called." She never wished to see his expression so much. She could imagine it but imagination was never enough when it came to Uchiha Itachi. That man himself was like a part of her imagination that seeing him face to face was the only way to assure her that he existed in her reality. "I like it whenever you do things that I didn't expect."

"Like what?" She realized that her voice was soft, bordering on shyness. It was so unlike her. Most people who knew her tended to describe her as a spitfire. If they saw the way she was acting around Itachi, they would certainly be surprise. In her defence, Itachi had a way to defuse her fuse whenever it was lit. There were times when she was going to shout at him, to accuse him of things, to simply be mad at him, but he always managed to calm her down.

"Like when you decided to give me a chance. Like when you decided to go out with me. Like now that you're calling me."

She remembered the smile that appeared on his face when she did those things. She heard a rustle on the other end and the smile that was on her face widened when she imagined him blushing while saying all those cheesy stuffs. She wondered if he was though because she never really did see hit outright blushing. There were those moments when he was shy and when his face was covered with light pink hue but he never actually blushed.

Caught up in the moment, she confided, "I like seeing your smile."

There was a comfortable silence after that as they minded their own thoughts. The only sign that they were still on a call with each other was the sound of their light breathing. It felt like an hour passed before Sakura voiced out the guilt that kept crawling back to her since the text in which he offered to pick her up.

"I'm sorry for not telling you about my bicycle."

"It's fine, Sakura. I understand." Another pang hit Sakura as she thought of how many times he tried to understand her and how many times she took advantage of his tolerance.

"You know…" she started, not quite sure whether she should say what she was going to say or not. "It would make me feel a lot better if you act as selfish as I do."

He was silent. Sakura thought that she made a mistake by saying what she did. His voice sounded pained when he replied. "I rather not. I used up my life's worth of selfishness when I decided to pursue law."

Sakura pursed her lips. This was the conversation that she had been waiting for. It was a bit weird why the eldest son of the Uchiha Company's president did not follow his father's footsteps and inherit the company. It had been a big question to her why Sasuke was the one to inherit the company when his father stepped down and not Itachi but she did not think it was right to ask Sasuke about it.

She knew that it was a sensitive topic but she felt like she forced the words out of her mouth. "You don't have to talk about it." She flinched at her own voice. Anyone can hear that she really wanted to know the reason why he was pursuing law and not business. It was better if she had kept her mouth shut.

"It's alright. I owe you stories about myself. I know that you wanted to ask about this but you kept yourself from asking. I apologize that it took this long."

She braced herself.

"Have you heard about the scandal that our cousin was involved in from Sasuke?"

She nodded before she realized that he could not see her. "Yes," she said softly. Truthfully, she did not hear about it from Sasuke. The scandal featuring Uchiha Shisui was all over the media. She remembered that Sasuke kept being absent from school during their elementary days and she remembered vaguely her relatives talking about the incident.

Uchiha Shisui was a teenager at the time when he was accused of arson and attempted murder on Shimura Danzo, a well-known political figure in the city. The facts were witnesses saw the Uchiha walking out of Danzo's office before a fire broke out from there. It was later discovered that there was a lit cigarette that supposedly belonged to the Uchiha in the trash can and it was deduced that the cigarette was the cause. It was said that the cigarette was intentionally thrown in there and Uchiha Shisui had reasons for doing so. Danzo was supposedly involved in Uchiha Shisui's parents' death and it was said that the Uchiha had a misplaced grudge. Danzo came out of it unscathed bar the fact that he was found unconscious due to inhaling too much of the smoke from the fire.

"I am quite close with Shisui. I know things that people don't know about him as he knows things about me that no one else does." She heard another rustle. He might be sitting up as when he talked next, his voice sounded clearer. "I know for a fact that he did not do the things he was accused of doing. I know for a fact that he was falsely accused and the six years of imprisonment for arson and another twenty years for attempted murder, in my opinion, are a bit too much considering the lack of evidence."

She did not see what he was talking about until he continued.

"The court trial was one-sided. It was unfair because Danzo has more power over it. I felt like as the only person who knew about it, I have to do something. So I approached my father and convinced him to allow me pursue law for my own reasons." His voice was restricted. "He threw me out of the house and it was only recently that he allowed me to return for dinner, at least. Before that, my mother would always sneak out to see me. I thought Sasuke would be angry at me for doing what I did but he didn't and I owe him a lot for his support although he thought I am only a lecturer. Even my father thought I am simply specialising on a research on political power over adjudication. They did not know that I took the bar exam. I managed to get one of the Inn of Court's scholarship to pursue by bar training."

She had always thought that Uchiha Itachi led a perfect life but after hearing this, she realized that he led far from a perfect life. He was able to achieve the position he was in now by pure hard work. She felt her heart constricted at the guilt he must be feeling for taking away the choice that Sasuke should have had as the younger sibling. He must be blaming himself and he atoned for it by giving up his selfishness.

"Do you still go to see Shisui?"

He grunted in affirmation. "Hn."

"Does he know of what you're planning to do?"

"Yes, but he was not happy about it. He said that I should not get involved in this. He told me that it's not like he was sentenced for life. He was only imprisoned for twenty-six years. He'll be out when he's fourty-one. But we can't predict what will happen and I believe this is a matter of false imprisonment." His voice sounded far away. "It's not like I'm going to go against Danzo directly. I want to bring back the case to life and even though it's a bit too late to argue about his sentence, it's not too late for the court to set a new rule when deciding a case like this. Shisui is not the only victim of this kind of thing, after all."

She understood his reasoning. Itachi was a nice person and it was expected that he had this kind of thought. He was, after all, a pacifist by nature.

But she still could not see why he could not allow himself to be selfish to her though.

"I understand, Itachi. But this and that is different. You can be selfish to me, at least."

"You don't understand, Sakura. Selfishness can affect your life as well as every other person who is close to you."

He was being stubborn but Sakura knew just the thing to say. "I'm not an Uchiha, Itachi. I'm Haruno Sakura. I am not your family." Whether it was the right thing or not, it did not matter at the moment. "Right now, I believe I am close to you but I am giving you permission to affect my life. So, just to me, I want you to be selfish. Just for me."

There was another moment of silence and she was scared that he would make up an excuse to drop the call and cancel picking her up later. The silence was deafening and she felt herself breaking by each second.

She did not want him to do any of those. "What do you want from me, Itachi?" she pressed. If he was going to say that he just wanted clarity again, she could not say that she would buy it again. Hearing this, she was sure that there were things that he would not allow himself. He needed to realize that life was short and if he would not allow himself to be a bit selfish, he was going to regret a lot of things.

She really thought that he was going to drop the call now.

She was really convinced that this was the right thing to do though. He had been telling her to stop running away and in a way, he was calling her a coward. Well, he was a coward too if he would not allow himself to be selfish. It was not like she was telling him to be selfish to everyone. She just wanted him to be selfish to-

"I want to hold you."

….Well, that shut up her thoughts pretty damn good.

She hoped he did not hear her gulping. Her brain was no longer in control with her mind when she found herself responding. "Okay."

"I want to spend more time with you. Not just during the weekends. Whenever we're free. Even if it's before class or during lunch or after classes."

"Okay."

"I want you to stop worrying about my work as a lecturer and your identity as a student. I want us to date like normal couples."

Her mind had not clicked around the word 'date'. "Okay."

The last one was quiet but it seemed the most honest of them all.

"I want you to love me back."

"Okay."

* * *

It was no surprise to both of them that when Itachi went to pick her up, they both were embarrassed beyond words. The amount of cheesiness that transpired between them earlier was a bit too much. It felt alright when they were not looking at each other but now, it made them more aware about the other. They were seeing each other in a new light and it felt like they got a bit closer than before.

As usual, it was Itachi who broke the awkwardness. If he left it to Sakura, she might not be able to do it and she might just made it worse.

"Are you ready?"

It felt like he was asking more than just about whether she was ready to go now.

"Yes."

It might just be her but when she stepped out, it felt like more than just a step out of her apartment. It felt like she just took a step into the next phase of their relationship. She felt like a new person entirely as she saw the world in a new light.

There was not any stupid question but Sakura felt that she was asking one when she asked, "So…erm…are we dating now?"

Itachi's lips twitched into a small smile. His voice was teasing when he shot back a question at her. "What do you think?"

"Mou," Sakura complained while punching him lightly on the arm. If he was hurt, he did not show it.

But at that moment, Sakura was definitely acting more like herself and Itachi more like himself. It was definitely a good thing because they would need each other's support more than they thought they did.

* * *

"Someone said they saw you walking out of Uchiha-sensei's car."

Itachi was quite famous in the University for being the youngest lecturer in the school and also for being one of the good looking ones. It did not help that he was an Uchiha which made him one of the most sought-after man in Konoha. It was only normal that people would be watching him so closely.

Sakura fought against the need to roll her eyes at her course mate who almost never talked to her. She suspected that the someone she was referring to was actually herself. "Well, that someone needs to mind their own business."

The girl scrunched her eyebrows. "You're not even trying to deny it. Why were you in Uchiha-sensei's car?" She was pushing it a bit too much. Sakura knew that she was fishing for information to spread around. She had been friends with Ino for too long to know the signs.

Sakura felt like jabbing the injection she was holding at the girl. "I've told you, mind your own business. I'm not going to give you an answer more than that." Who did she think she was anyway? There were not even friends so Sakura did not feel inclined to update her on her life.

She would have pushed for more information had their teacher did not call them out for talking in class. Sakura felt thankful about it but when she saw the lingering look her teacher gave her, she knew that the words had travelled throughout her school. Thinking about it, the other health science students might also heard about it considering the fact that they were in contact with each other almost every day.

There was that feeling that the fact that she came out of Itachi's car had reached the ears of everyone in the University though. Someone as famous as him had too many people minding his business, after all.

Sakura could not help the thought creeping into her head that she might just be causing Itachi his downfall. Remembering what she promised him early that day, she tried to push the thought to the back of her mind. They were not student and lecturer. There were simply two people who were in a relationship.

* * *

When Ino ran to hug her and practically shouted, "Congrats, forehead!" from few feet in front of her, what she had been thinking about was confirmed. Ino was not a health science student and yet she heard about it already. If Ino knew, everyone else must have known about it.

Sakura awkwardly let her hand limped on her sides and when Ino let her go, she stared at her questioningly. "Where did you hear about it?"

"Shikamaru," she replied curtly before she sat down comfortably on the grass that they frequented whenever they decided to have lunch together. She gave Sakura no time to ask where the Nara genius could have heard about it. "I'm a bit disappointed that I did not hear about this from you first." She patted the space down next to her. "Now tell me the whole story."

Seeing the excited state Ino was in, Sakura set down her bag before reluctantly sat down next to the blonde. "There's not much to tell."

"I'm not buying that. The last time you talked to me about this was to tell me that you thought he was avoiding you. Now, spill! What led to this development?"

Sakura grinned. Truthfully, she had always wanted to tell Ino about it but never got the chance to. She decided to tease the blond and scowled, "I was going to tell you when I called you last week! Who was the one who told me to not bother her until she gave the green light, hmm?"

Ino groaned. "You're not going to blame this on me, Forehead. You know I was busy with my assignment. Thank God that's over now! So, tell."

Sakura was more than happy to tell her only female best friend the events that had happened between her Itachi. She started with the sleep over and ended with the phone call but there were things that she left out. Actually, there were a lot of things that she left out. She did not say anything about the exchange between them because to her, it was a bit too private. Those were her secrets with Itachi and it was something that she did not feel right to tell her best friend.

By the end of narration, Ino was left squealing and she hugged Sakura again. "I knew he would be a good person for you!" Looking at the pinkette, she grinned, "I'm proud of you, Sakura. You managed to fight your own ghosts."

Biting her lips, Sakura confided. "I'm not sure about that." She blushed a bit. "But I guess I have Itachi to thank for leading me away from them."

That was a good step forward, Ino mused in her thought. "So when are you going to allow me to see him?"

"I don't think that's a good idea." Smiling at the confused look on Ino's, she continued. "You might scare him, Pig."

Ino scoffed. "Why would the Uchiha Itachi be scared of someone like me?" Nudging her best friend, she playfully assured her. "Don't worry, Forehead. Your worry is reasonable considering how I look but as much as I would like to flirt with him, I believe that he only has his eyes on you."

* * *

The day went on as usual and Sakura started to get used to the stares she was getting. No one tried to demand an answer from her anymore and she was glad about it. If she heard another question, she did not know how she would react.

She found herself smiling when she entered Itachi's car that evening. The man who gave her a small smile back still looked as good as he did that morning when she first saw him and she was suddenly conscious of her appearance and she hoped that the smell of antiseptic that got stuck on her clothes would not be so obvious.

"I hope you didn't get too annoyed by the questions you were getting as much as I was."

She did not expect Itachi to say that to her that she could not help but laughed. "I was a bit annoyed but I was able to handle them." When she managed to put on her seatbelt without much struggle, she turned to Itachi. "I hope I wouldn't make you late for dinner." It was nice having him opening up to her like this.

"It's fine. I've told my mother that I'll be a bit late."

She closed the door shut and put on her seatbelt, always the law-abiding citizen. "Erm, about tomorrow…"

Itachi glanced at her worriedly as he started to drive.

"I'm planning to go to the library after I'm done getting the tyres changed. So I don't really mind if you want to go back after sending me to the bicycle place you said you were familiar with."

Truthfully, she did mind. It was a bit difficult trying to get to see him what was with their timetable clash but this weekend, she had a bit too much things on her plate that needed her immediate attention. She was having her finals in the second week of next month too. As much as she did not want to take this relationship they were having for granted, she was still a student who was living on a student loan and who did not yet have a job. It would be different had she been a career woman already but her future as a successful career woman was not set and she would not want to sacrifice her study for this.

She was sure that Itachi must have a workload of stuffs to do now anyway as they were nearing the exam season. Even though the male looked as good as usually did, she could see that he was weary. Her nose did not have to be sensitive for her to recognize the smell of espresso on him when he walked her to his car that morning. She was familiar with that drink, after all, after having to depend on it on the nights when she had some kind of a class exercise to complete. She bitterly noted how those nights kept increasing now that she was approaching the end of the academic year.

His expression did not change but Sakura could see that he was relieved when he heard her words. She thanked Sasuke in her mind for unconsciously taught her how to decipher an Uchiha's facial expression. If she did not learn that ability, she would have thought that Itachi did not want to accompany her in the first place.

"That should be fine. I can send you to the library and we can part from there."

She nodded understandingly and he offered him a reassuring smile. He must be thinking that she was falling into one of those insecure thoughts again. He was right to worry though because the thoughts did exist and she was only barely letting it from bothering her.

She did not ask for an elaboration but he continued on. "I have to go to the outskirts tomorrow night. I will be staying there for a night." She realized that he was abiding by her wish for him to tell her if he was going to go somewhere far. She felt a jolt of electricity when his warm hand engulfed hers as he pulled her hand so that it was now at the edge of her seat just near the gear stick. "I might come to see you when I'm back."

She restrained herself from asking what he could be doing on a Saturday night. If that was the extent he was willing to tell her, then that should be fine for now. She would find out about it eventually just like how she found out things about him.

"Is it okay for a lawyer to break the law by driving with one hand?" she asked, tightening her grip for a second to emphasize her point.

She was not looking at him but even so, she heard the puff of amusement that escaped him. "You will be surprised by how many law professionals actually break the law on a daily basis."

"Say that the advantage of knowing medical stuffs is that you know about what kind of a medicine you should be taking by analysing the symptoms, saving you the trouble of going to see a practitioner," she mused randomly. "What advantage does studying law actually give you?"

His answer was playful even though his tone did not change. "You learn how to break the law without actually breaking it."

She laughed. "You're horrible."

She was answered with a squeeze on her hand.

* * *

 **AN: Chapter Seven is here and I hope you guys enjoyed it! I'm a bit surprised at the number of alerts and favorites I was receiving. You guys are awesome! The reviewers are all awesome too! I really enjoyed reading your comments! I was told that the narration is a bit unclear sometimes and don't worry, I'll work on it!**

 **Please do leave a review and tell me what you think of this chapter! Anonymous reviews are accepted!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or the characters in it. I apologize if this is similar to some other fanfic and I can assure you that this fanfic is as original as it can be.**

* * *

 **Chapter 8: Power**

"Itachi! Good morning!" A cheerful-looking man greeted them as soon as they stepped their foot inside the workshop. He looked like bad news what was with his shark-like grin and sharp teeth but Sakura made it a mission in her life to never judge a book by its cover. Judging someone by their appearance would make her act biasedly especially in her line of work and she did not need that if she was really aspiring to be a doctor.

Sometimes, though, it was difficult not to judge. Especially since Itachi practically brought her to a rundown workshop in a dodgy-looking area.

The man pushed the open drawer of the cashier machine closed and stepped out from behind the counter. He and Itachi clapped their hands diagonally before going for a short embrace. Sakura's jaw almost dropped at the unusual display from Itachi and her surprise was not lost to the man with blue-tinted skin. She locked her thoughts on the possible explanation for his skin to the back of her mind as she focussed on the happenings in front of her.

He looked at her with unconcealed interest. There was something about his stare that unnerved her. She felt like she was going to be eaten alive what was with the positively predatory air around him. Without breaking eye contact with her, he directed a question to Itachi. "And who's this pretty lady?"

"Haruno Sakura," Sakura replied, not knowing where she got the guts from but hell, she was a bit annoyed. She never liked it when someone asked a question that was obviously about her to someone else even though she was right in front of them. Sasuke did that before when they got in a fight once and she taught him with her fist and practically warned Naruto not to ever do something like that ever again. She just did not like feeling ignored.

She took a step forward and put her hand forward for a shake and smiled as friendlily as she could. "I would like it better if you address me more directly."

"Ooh, chick got guts." Instead of taking her hands, he took up her personal space and put his arm around her shoulder before bending down to whisper, "That's a good trait to have, Pinky. You at least need that here." He straightened and in a normal voice, "But you don't need that with Itachi protecting you, do you? I'm Hoshigaki Kisame."

Sakura tried not to get more annoyed than she already was. _Pinky?_ _Seriously?_ This man seriously had no tact.

He pulled back his arm and turned back to Itachi. "It has been a bit since I last saw you. What brings you here? With Pinky, nonetheless. It's a bit unusual for you to be here with someone, much less a girl."

"I'm going to need your help changing her tyres." Itachi nodded at the direction of the entrance. "We brought her bicycle here."

Kisame suddenly turned serious. The playfulness in his eyes earlier suddenly disappeared. She looked at Itachi but the man still looked the same as usual. At the back of her mind, she wondered if there was some kind of a secret message in any words that Itachi used but erased that thought as soon as she realized there was nothing that was unusual in his choice of words.

She still could not erase the feeling that there was something she should be suspicious of though.

* * *

"So…Care to tell me how someone like you would know a place like that?"

She was just trying her luck. If Itachi was not going to tell her, she would let it go. If he told her, she would let him decide on how much to tell her. She would not force it out from him because it was obvious from what had transpired between them all these time that Itachi would tell her about something in good time. If he thought it was time, there was no stopping him from telling her. Not himself and certainly not her.

They were now in their car, waiting for their order to be given to them at the drive-thru. They already had Sakura's bicycle tyres changed and Itachi told her that he had to go a bit earlier than he thought. They could not get lunch together but he still insisted on buying her lunch. Sakura could not find it in herself to reject his offer though, wanting no more than spending a bit more time with the man before she busied herself with her researches.

The man had been acting a bit peculiar and Sakura just knew that something was wrong. If the way he was acting was not enough to warn her about it, the fact that he and Kisame immediately changed the topic of their conversation earlier when they saw her approaching them was.

Itachi glanced at her before went on to assure her, "Kisame won't hurt you, Sakura."

Sakura sighed heavily, confused. "That was not my question." She looked at him and saw that he was still not looking at her. They were not driving now but even when they were on the road, whenever they talked, Itachi would always glance at her. This worried her even more.

"I used to work there during my high school and college years."

The reply was shorter than Sakura wanted but for now, she could accept that. A bit more relaxed, she leaned onto her seat. "I can see that you trust him. I decided to trust you, Itachi. So I will trust the people you trust too."

"Thank you, Sakura." He finally looked at her and that made Sakura realized that his gratitude was real. Something told Sakura that he was not specifically thanking her for her trust though even though he was thankful of that too. Rather, it seemed like he was thanking her for not pushing for answers.

Their conversation was interrupted by the teenager behind the window who had the paper bag containing their orders in his hands. Itachi pulled off his seatbelt before taking it away from the teen. Sakura took the bag from Itachi while following his every move as he pulled up his window and put his seatbelt back on.

"You seem to want to ask more things." For the first time since they had the conversation, he glanced at her before driving away before the driver behind them decided to honk at them. "I will try to answer you as much as I can but I can't say all your questions will be answered."

"I think," she swallowed, "It's about time I ask you about Kakashi-sensei."

She thought that he was about to ignore her until she felt him sped up and took a sharp turn back into the parking area. He rushed into an empty parking space before the driver behind them who just entered the compound could take take it. Judging from the honks behind them and the yell that followed, the driver was not happy about it. He took off his seatbelt again before turning to her. "Are you sure? I don't think I can stop myself from telling you everything now."

"Didn't you say you need to go early today?"

There was a wrinkle in between his eyebrow as his lips turned into a frown. "I do."

Sakura let out a genuine laugh at his moment of lapse. For a bit there, he let his emotions took over him and Sakura really liked it whenever he lost his composure. "Don't worry, I won't take back what I said. I'll wait until you return."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

* * *

Unlike what she initially thought, it was not hard getting into her work once she started looking for the relevant textbooks and journals. It was probably the fact that Itachi wished her good luck when he dropped her off at the library that gave her the motivation but she was thankful whatever it was that allowed her a clear mind to focus. It was also probably the fact that she wanted to make her night clear for at least tomorrow so that she could spend more time with Itachi as they promised.

She looked at the amount of resources that she managed to find but have not gone through yet. She let out a deep sigh at the thought of the amount of reading she had to go through. She might have looked forward to it more had the exams were a bit far from the deadline of the assignment. She was a bit of a masochist when it came to researches. There was just something about getting a knowledge that was not discussed in her lectures or clinics that made her feel rewarded.

She saw one of the librarians walking around telling people that it was almost time to close the library. Surprised, she checked the time on her phone and saw that she indeed had only around ten minutes left. She hastily packed up her stuffs and forced the books she was going to borrow into her backpack. She saw a few people rushing to the check-out machine and was not surprised at the amount of people queueing up. She remembered last year when she was one of those people queueing up and shivered at the thought of experiencing it again. She had been one of the unfortunate ones who had to put the books she was borrowing down because one of the strict librarians refused to be more lenient to them. Luckily, she had them checked out for her to borrow earlier sans a few that she had photocopied. She learnt from experience after all.

When she was done packing, she searched for Naruto who she saw sitting at the table just a few tables away from her. It was a shock for her to see him in this place on a Sunday earlier but she immediately understood when she saw who he was with. He had invited her to sit with them earlier but she rejected it, not wanting to interfere with his bonding time with the girl who he was currently interested him. She saw the blonde clumsily pushed his belongings messily into his own backpack while the girl next to him nervously waited for him with a deep red blush on her cheeks. It was Hinata who saw her looking first. She offered her a smile before poking Naruto on the arm to get his attention and muttered something short. She guessed it was her name as the next second, Naruto turned to her with a grin.

"See ya, Sakura-chan! I hope we can hang out soon!"

Normally, she would reprimand him for being so noisy but as the library was already noisy with the voices of the agitated students who wanted nothing but to get to the front of the line, she guessed that it was okay for him to be loud. She gave him a wide smile before she decided to tease him, "Yeah, me too! Have fun on your date!"

The blush on both of their faces made her laugh.

Sakura was not surprised when she was greeted by an empty bicycle parking area. That, however, made her feel paranoid as she watched her bicycle from where she was standing lit only by the light from the lamppost. The sound of cars speeding through the highway was visible from where she was at and she took refuge in the thought that she was not alone in the area. There were cars on the nearby car park and what were the chances of the absence of a person in the place. There must be someone resting in a car somewhere.

She knew she was only trying to give herself more courage but what mattered right then was that she had the courage to walk to her bicycle. Truthfully, she had confidence to take care of herself if she was faced with an attacker but what she did not have any confidence if she was faced with an attacker of the inhuman kind.

She already reached her bicycle when she felt eyes on her. Feeling goose bumps forming on her skin, she looked around the place but there was no one. Not even an evidence of a shadow. This was not the first time she was going home so late but she had never gotten rid of her fear of being out alone when it was dark out. She hurriedly stepped over the seat of her bicycle and cycled away as fast as she could after she made sure that her backpack was secured.

It was unfortunate that she did not see the eyes that were following her from the second floor of the building just in front of where she parked her mode of transportation.

* * *

"Ahh! You scared me!" she screamed after finding the blue-skinned male in front of her. She had been speed walking towards the elevator in her apartment building after she was done locking her bicycle while glancing at her back almost every second. She had been feeling uneasy after the stare that she could feel boring through her every being earlier.

Kisame looked at her with his signature shark-like grin. Sakura forced her heartbeat to calm down. She managed to do that a little but it was almost impossible to not feel wary around the tall man.

"I didn't know you live here," she stated, entering the elevator. He must have seen her earlier and was holding the elevator for her. She muttered a 'thank you' and went on to click her floor number. She had never seen the male and she guessed he might be staying at a different floor. The apartment building where she was staying was not that big but she did not know everyone living in it. She was sure that she would remember the man if she had seen him before what was with his eye-catching appearance. True enough, the floor that he was heading to was a few floors above hers.

"Oh, no, I don't live here." There was an amused look in his eyes as he said that. "I'm here to visit a friend."

Sakura nodded, accepting his answer, and said nothing more. She awkwardly stared in at their reflection on the door of the elevator, avoiding her eyes from meeting his. She could feel him staring.

"Please stop staring at me! I swear I'll poke the eyes of the next person who'll stare at me!" She was still a bit anxious from the feeling of being stared earlier and since she thought she was being stared at by something that she was so scared of, it was only about time that she fell victim to the pressure. Sakura knew that she was bad with pressures and she knew that she had to work on it. There was obviously little improvement in that area.

He let out a guttural laugh. "Sorry, Kitten. I was trying to think of how I should start a conversation to get rid of the awkward atmosphere but I guess this works too."

Sakura gaped at him, wide-eyed and red-faced.

"You finally look at me," he grinned. The elevator dinged. Kisame nodded at the open door, dismissing whatever she was going to say. He knew that she did not like the nicknames he gave her. "I guess this is where we will part."

Looking back and forth between the door and the guy, Sakura eventually decided to just get away from the man as soon as possible. She was not one to hold back her anger but at the same time, she was a bit afraid of the tall shark-like man. He gave her an animalistic vibe, very much like the predator that he looked like.

She did give him one last glare his way before going to her door though. When she took a turn to the right towards her apartment, it was unfortunate that she did not see the closing door sliding back open.

* * *

As much as Sakura believed that she could, there were times when she could not read Uchiha Itachi. She had been working on her assignment until a few minutes ago when she heard the panicked rapid knocks on her door. She always had her headphones on when she was working and she guessed she did not hear him ringing the bell. She had been so lost in her world that she did not realize that it was already a bit past eight at night.

The man looked just like how she guessed he would look. When he saw her, he calmed tremendously but his eyes still looked undeniably wild. She invited him in. She did not miss how he warily looked around before entering. She might be tired but Sakura prided herself in her observational skills. She had always known that there were a lot of things that Itachi was not telling her but she also knew that he would tell her in due time.

She told the man to sit down on her couch while she went to the kitchen to make him tea and prepared the dango that she made earlier. She remembered how the man's eyes seemed to light up at the mention of dango so she wanted to make some for him. It was not the first time she made dango. She always helped her grandmother to make it before especially when she was on a school break. She just hoped that he would like it as much as he liked the one from that place he frequented.

"You can walk around, you know," she said loudly from the kitchen. "I don't really mind you treating my place like yours."

She heard a rustling sound and sure enough, he was standing and started to walk around. Sakura did not know what it was that was on his mind. He seemed a lot tense, tenser than when she saw him last. She did not know what his trip to the outskirts was for that he had to stay there overnight but she had a hunch that it was related to his sudden change in demeanour.

She placed the snacks on the coffee table. From the side of her eyes, she noticed him stopping in front of the wall where she stuck many pictures that practically depicted most of her important memories. It was a bit personal but she did not mind Itachi looking at it. Most of them were of her with Sasuke and Naruto or Ino anyways. Sakura went to stand next to him.

"Who's this?" He pointed at a picture of a pale boy who was holding a sketch pad while holding a pencil over the paper. He looked like he was so deep in concentration even though there was nothing on his expression that indicated that. He was completely emotionless.

"That's Sai," Sakura told him, smiling at the thought of her friend who she had not seen since high school ended. "He was in the same art class with Naruto and me." She remembered his rude nicknames for her and Naruto. She did not like him at first but he grew on her after a few months of being in the same class as he tended to hang around them. "He's a very weird kid." She missed that guy.

Itachi looked deep in thought. He must be thinking about why Sasuke had not been saying his name. From what she learnt, it was safe to conclude that Sasuke always talked to him about one thing or another.

"Sasuke isn't that close to him. Don't tell him I say this but I think whenever we hang out with Sai, he thinks he's being replaced." She giggled. "Sasuke can be a bit cute sometimes with his tsundere act. Only sometimes, though."

Itachi nodded at that, agreeing completely.

"We still keep in touch though. It's just that we never got the chance to meet up. He's currently taking Art and Design at Suna so the break is a bit different. He was struggling with his finance, the last time I heard from him. I've been to Suna before and I understand why he's struggling. Everything is quite expensive there."

He looked like he was in his own world again. His expression did not change but his knitted eyebrows told her that he was again lost in his thought. She frowned, remembering what he said about how was practically a workaholic. Wanting to snap him out of it, she touched his arm gently. The reaction was immediate being the person who was awkward to this kind of things that he was.

Sakura lightly scolded, "It's a Sunday, Itachi. You can rest today, at least. Don't even try to deny that you're not thinking about work. I know your work face."

He blinked. "Ah, I apologize. It's a habit of mine."

"I don't mind you putting your work first, Itachi. But you travelled quite a bit yesterday and it would be good if you rest today. Work can be postponed until tomorrow." She tugged him towards the couch. Unlike last time, this time she sat next to him. "Unless… It's something important that can't wait until tomorrow?"

"No, it can wait." He told her after a few heartbeats. He was obviously reluctant. She would not be surprised if he went back into that mode once he was back in his place. "I'm not here for work." He stiffly reached for a stick of dango. When one went into his mouth, he immediately relaxed and a nostalgic smile came to his face. "That's right. I want to bring you to that dango place." More disappeared into his mouth and even though he said nothing, she could tell that he at least approved of the taste.

"We can go there after my exams are over." She fixed her reading glasses that she forgot was even there. "I have almost nothing planned for the break. I might go visit my grandparents for a couple of months though."

He was quiet for a bit as he had that same faraway look again. "Sakura," he said after a few seconds. "I'm going to ask you this before I say anything about how I know about Hatake. Are you –"

"Don't make me change my mind, Itachi. I'm extremely sure that I want to know about it," she took his free hand and squeezed it lightly. "I think there's a story that I need to know. His. And whatever it is, I know I'll get part of it from you."

He nodded slowly. "However, don't you want to hear it directly from him?"

"Do you want me to hear it from him?" She held his stare.

"If you think it's best." He hid it well but she knew that he was trying to distract himself when he placed the now empty stick onto the plate.

"Selfish, Itachi."

"….Then, no. Not if we can avoid it."

She smiled. "There's my answer."

He leaned against the chair and changed the position of their hands so that he was the one holding hers now. "What do you want to know exactly?"

She knew that he was trying to avoid sensitive grounds. If something, Itachi had always tried to understand her and this was only one of the many times. There were many things that he tried to avoid stepping on and he might think that he was doing well at being sneaky but he was not. Sakura had always been quick at reading a person. It was one of the many things that she learnt to do after a while though she was not always right at it. This time, though, was one of the few times when she was sure that she was right.

"Everything you want me to know." She placed her head on his shoulder. She tried not to be distracted by his scent and instead focus on the coffee table, not actually seeing anything. "I think… we won't be getting anywhere if you keep letting me be the only one to decide the pace of the relationship. If you keep letting me, I don't think this will go anywhere." In a softer voice, she continued, "I don't think I can keep doing this, you know. Maybe now I can, but later I'm not so sure. It will do us good if you can act a bit more…assertive. You're holding yourself back a bit too much."

"I'm used to holding myself back," he told her in a low voice. She could feel the vibration of his voice. His fingers traced a circle over on the back of her palm. It was more of an action to soothe himself than it was to soothe her.

"Self-restraint is good, Itachi, but not if it stresses you so much. In my opinion, you're restraining yourself a bit too much. I'm just asking you to remove that a bit too much part." She changed her position for a bit before she looked at him. "I know in a way, this is a selfish request of mine but I just want to see an unrestrained you."

She saw a flash of resignation in his eyes. At that moment, he looked like his strength left him. Sakura realized that Itachi never denied her anything. He always made an effort to make her happy. She felt a bit bad about it but she convinced herself that this was for his own good. He needed to let it out once in a while and stop tormenting himself so much. She knew that this had something to do with his rebellious act of choosing a life different from what was chosen for him. She also knew that it was difficult for him to be selfish to her even though he agreed to it. That was exactly what made her see that he was restraining himself a bit too much. He told her what he wanted but if he kept himself from taking actions, what difference would that make?

"Then I'll tell you everything I want you to know about him." He was missing her point but she would accept this for now. She was not only talking about now. She leaned back her head on her shoulder after urging him to go on with a nod.

She could hear his pulse speed up. She did not realize when he let go of her hand so in an effort to comfort him, she just placed a hand on his thigh.

"I met Hatake back in my second year in high school. He had already graduated at that time but he still visited our club at that time. He used to be the captain before he graduated and he came to examine me to be the next captain. We're not exactly friends but he always said that I'm the only one who understands what he's saying."

Sakura stiffened at a memory. She remembered how Kakashi-sensei tended to use roundabout ways of saying things. Sakura used to be the kind of optimistic girl who ignored all the negative thoughts that she could have had. In a way, she guessed she was strong but at the same time, she was also naïve. She had been on a search for the right guy after what happened with Sasuke and Naruto calmed down and she had thought that fate brought her to Kakashi. What else could the reason be that of many people, she was the one who got to see him without his mask?

"We rarely ask to meet up with each other but when we do, we would talk about whatever it is in our head. It just happened that on one of the meetings, he was talking about a student of his. I did not know that he was talking about you until I heard it from Sasuke." Itachi tried to look at the girl but due to their position, he just looked at her hand that was on his thigh. It was shaking. He let out a breath. He knew that she would not let him stop talking after what he said earlier knowing how stubborn she was. "Sakura, I want to look at you when I'm telling you this."

He felt a movement on his shoulder but Sakura did not make any move to change their position. She was probably shaking her head in disagreement. Sakura had already lost her courage to listen to the truth but she refused to take back her words about letting Itachi to tell her whatever he wanted to tell her.

"You can hide your face with something. I just want to see you when I'm talking," he was softly pleading her. To his relief, she moved to change her position but he was surprised when she placed her head on his lap after taking a cushion for her to wrap her arms around and to cover the bottom half of her face. Her eyes looked watery but she was not crying. "Thank you." He played with her hair as he continued his talk. "He talked about a female student of his who barely looked at him until she saw his face. He told me that fate kept bringing you together like when he was assigned as a supervisor for your group during a camping trip and when he ended up being led to your table that you were assigned to wait during a school festival."

He also thought that it was fate that brought them together? Sakura did not know how to feel at the revelation. Since he left her alone just like that, she had always thought that she was the only one thinking that way. She could feel Itachi's eyes on her face, drinking in her every expression and it took a lot of her to not hide every inch of her face from him. She could feel her face turning red, not because she was angry but it was because she was feeling embarrassed. She did not want Itachi to see her like this. She did not want to see Itachi's expression as he drank in her reaction to his stories either. She knew that she was always at her lowest when someone talked to her about Kakashi-sensei. It was for that reason that Sasuke, Naruto and Ino tended to avoid the topic.

"He did not say it but it seems that you made an impression on him. Whenever you approached him, you never treated him like a teacher. You saw him as the man that he was. Your determination broke down some of his barriers. To tell you the truth, when I approached you, I expected you to treat me like that even though I knew that after what he did, that could never happen. You're traumatized by what happened and since he said what he said, you are now more than aware of the identity of a student and a lecturer."

Sakura could not even find it in herself to deny what he was saying. Before, she had always thought of the idea of a _student_ and a _teacher_ as simply that of a label. After that though, she was more than aware of the identity given by that label including all the dos and don'ts. She became more conscious of the stigmas following inability to conform to the norms expected of those labels.

"I wouldn't be if we didn't get find out," she retorted weakly, her voice breaking. "In a way, I think our relationship is kinda similar. I think that is exactly why I felt so reluctant to accept you. I think that I kept making up excuses that I didn't know you that well because I was still afraid of how this will turn out."

She saw Itachi's emotionless mask fell for a second. Her heart clenched but she went on.

"Teachers… Students… I don't get why labels have to exist. Why can't people see others as the way they are?"

"Do you regret this then?" Itachi's voice sounded far.

She did not need to think about it to know her answer. "No… No." She sat up, finding it difficult to try and convince him that she did not regret anything while lying down. "This… what we have is similar but it's different. I know you're serious, at least. What I had with Kakashi-sensei was never defined. I never had the guts to ask him what it was until the last minute but at that time, many things had already happened that we barely have any trust for each other."

His face did not change but the subtle change of his body language told her everything. He was resigning himself for the worse. He was getting ready to let her go.

She immediately grabbed his face with both of her hands. She saw his eyes looking past her earlier. "No, don't." She almost could not recognize her voice. It did not sound like hers at all. It sounded so in pain. "You're doing the same thing like he did if you do that. I don't know if what you said is true for him but if he really did have some feelings for me then it must not be strong enough if he left me just like that. I don't know what he told you but for me, he left me hanging. He said nothing after we were found out. We got a warning but it was not to stop what we had. It was more of a warning to not let affect our respective responsibilities in the school. But he avoided me nevertheless. He avoided me after sending me a vague text." She let her hands fall to each of his arms, grabbing them tightly as she bowed her head. This time, her tears actually left her eyes.

She remembered it all. She did not want to remember it but it came to her automatically. Itachi might have thought that he had answered the question that she had been having but he had not. In fact, it just added more to it.

"He asked me, _'What were you thinking?'_. I didn't know what he meant, I still don't. I replied to his texts asking him what he meant but you know what he said? He said, _'Never mind. It's okay.'_ " She laughed humourlessly. "I thought he meant it. So I texted him again, a random text. Something to divert the conversation. But he never replied." She remembered the many times when she tried to talk to him. "Even though he still taught at my school and even though we saw each other every day, he treated me like a stranger."

She looked up at Itachi but his bangs were hiding his face. She let go of his arms. "I'm sorry. I don't know why you're telling me all this but you must have felt like you have to since you know a bit of his side of the story. You must be hurting more to be the one to tell me this but thank-"

Her face was brought forcefully to his chest as he wrapped his arms around her. He buried his face on her hair and she could barely hear his whisper.

"Don't."

She felt like there was something in her throat that stopped her from saying anything. She tried to gulp it down and even though the feeling subsided, she still could not talk.

"Don't thank me. I'm sorry, I did not know." His arms tightened around her. "What I said was the truth but it's not like what you think. I did not tell you because I was feeling responsible. I am not that nice, Sakura. It was all in my plan. I was planning to tell you about it all along but it was all for my gain. If your face show bits of regrets or happiness, I would leave you and not approach you again. It was a plan of mine to run away before I get hurt. I did not know. I…apologize."

Sakura wanted to feel angry at what he just said. In fact, she was angry. It was just that the sound of his frantically beating heart debated against her not to act on her emotions. She placed her hands on his shoulders and lifted her head to look at him but as she did, she felt something warm against her lips. She gasped in surprise and Itachi took that opportunity to deepen the kiss. She felt everything that he was trying to convey. She could hear his apologies, more clearly than if he had said it with words.

Normally, she would not forgive someone so easily. However, this was not just anyone. This was Uchiha Itachi. There were just a lot of things that she would not do for anyone that she did not mind doing for Itachi.

The extent of the power that he had on her was frightening her. But looking back, it must also be frightening for him to be able to give up a lot of things so easily for her.

She took refuge in the thought that as much as he had power over her, she too had power over him.

They were controlling each other but for them, it was the freedom that they were both wishing for.

Now, only if her glasses did not hurt the bridge of her nose.

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 **AN: Hello guys! Okay, that was a one month plus hiatus. I apologize that this is uploaded so late and also if there are some mistakes in it. I haven't gotten to reread it and I might edit it whenever I have time. I've been busy lately and tired. I only have Sundays to work on this but even so, I'm barely home to actually work on it. But anyway, hope you guys enjoy this chapter!**

 **Also, thank you to those who reviewed, favorite-d and alerted! I enjoy reading your reviews! I would really love it if you guys take your time and leave me one to let me know your thoughts. I'll try working on my shortcomings, lol.**

 **Please do leave a review and tell me what you think of this chapter! Anonymous reviews are accepted!**


	9. Chapter 9

**AN: Okay, this is long overdue, I admit. I'm not even sure if people are still following this story but I'll post it nevertheless. I wrote this last year but I never feel satisfied with and I'm still not satisfied with it now, lol. But I guess this is needed to bring the story to the direction I want. Anyway here's Chapter 9!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or the characters in it. I apologize if this is similar to some other fanfic and I can assure you that this fanfic is as original as it can be.**

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 **Chapter 9: Worry**

Sakura woke up to the banging on her door which inevitably caused her hangover to worsen. She had just finished her clinical exams yesterday and was immediately dragged to the nearest pub by her colleagues, still in the clothes that she was in when she went to school early that morning. It was a spur of the moment thing, not something planned, so she ended up going looking like someone refused to go home.

Not that that was far from the truth.

Well, she had a problem. Her exams were frigging hard. She had just have to be one of those unfortunate students who was given a debatably healthy patient. It should have been easy but when the conditions are simple, there would always be a problem on how to explain things and more often than not, the Professor in charge would end up asking things so simple or things so complex. Something simple is something that you thought you would never be asked, especially in an exam. It also did not help that it involved the kind of information that was typed in small fonts somewhere on a presentation slide.

The main point was she ignored that statement. She ended up just babbling about things that came to mind which she believed to be total nonsense now that she thought back to what she said. It did not help that the other people who had the exam on the same day kept saying how they thought they might ace the exam because everything that they read was asked. Nor did it help that they discussed the answers to the questions that she got when she told them what she was asked.

Curse her luck.

Maybe she used up her luck when it gave her Itachi.

Anyway, she ended up drinking an amount which Tsunade-sensei would be proud of. The head of school's drinking problem was not a secret to them. It was almost impossible to not acknowledge what was presented to them so clearly. The blonde-haired woman often came to their morning lectures with an obvious hangover.

Back to her current predicament. Thinking about it, it was due to her own carelessness that she ignored those little texts on the handout. Furthermore, was it not her job as a student to know about it a bit more?

But still, it was nice now that she was able to drink her stress off. The prickling headache she was sporting now though was another story.

She opened the door, not bothering to peek through the peek hole. While fighting a groan at the sunlight that attacked her vision, she rudely greeted, "What?"

The unknown woman opposite her did not even flinch at her rude greeting. Sakura could not decide whether it was because she was used to it or she just could not bother about it but… God, she could not think. Her head hurt so much.

"Good day, Miss. I am sorry for disturbing you. I am an officer from the Konoha Police Force."

At the introduction, Sakura forced herself to actually look at the woman and true enough she was wearing the full uniform. Instinctively, she racked her mind for any crime that she could possibly have done last night. Did she hit someone? Ino had always told her that she was a violent drunk. It was probably the truth too as she recalled the state Naruto was always in when someone slipped her some alcohol (she had a feeling Sasuke had his hand in that). The ache refused to give ways for the memories though but she saluted herself for being able to keep her calm and not let her worry show.

"Oh."

Not that she did very well.

"We are currently investigating the assault that happened last night at around nine in the fifteenth level of this building. Do you know anything about it?"

Nine… She let out a sigh of relief. It was not possible that she was the criminal then. She remembered that it was around nine when their party started to get a bit more rowdy and it was a around ten when everyone started to heavily compete over who could down more drinks than the other. She could not have been back by then and if her memories could be relied on, then she was innocent.

"No," she said with a conviction that she did not know she had. "I was out with my friends."

Okay, so maybe she did not need to give a reason. Or maybe she did but not that one. That was one of the many reasons that often got people in trouble. Like when one of the couple in a shaky relationship said that very line, the other would definitely think that the other was cheating. It was one of the classic lines that criminals often use. _Friends_. That word would only lead the investigator to think whether those people were real or simply an excuse. She expected the officer to look at her suspiciously as soon as the words came out of her mouth and the pointed look that she received was close enough.

Yeah, she was in trouble.

"May I know what time you were out and around what time you were back?" At this point, Sakura was already trying to calm herself which was proving to be difficult even as her headache slowly evaporated out of her head. It would not do her any good if she continued to say things off her head like that. "If it is possible, can you give me the name of someone who can testify your alibi. Since the incident happened within this building-"

"I can testify for her."

The two women turned to the person who interrupted their conversation. Normally, the officer would warn the person for getting in the way of an investigation but at the sight of the man, she immediately took back whatever word that was going to leave her mouth.

"Itachi-san, what are you doing here?!"

Before Sakura could even feel relieved that her boyfriend appeared just right when she needed someone to be, she felt something akin to jealousy bubbling in the pit of her stomach. The way the female officer addressed the man so familiarly did not escape her notice. She tried telling herself that in his line of work, it was not impossible that he could be chummy with people in the officer's line of profession.

The both of them started talking and Sakura did not even bother to listen to what they were saying. She knew Itachi as a man of a few words, saying only things he felt like saying. Even with her, it was only when he felt like he had a few points to be made that he would talk so much. She was not sure whether they were having small talks or not but she was positive that she did not like the look on the officer's face as she talked with Itachi.

How she hoped that she could just close the door. Sadly, she could not as it would only make her look more suspicious. Forcing herself to focus on the conversation, the jealousy that she was feeling did not disappear even as she heard the female officer telling Itachi about what had happened in the area as Itachi asked her a few questions that were obviously work-related.

It might be the remnants of alcohol in her bloodstream saying but she did not realize what she was saying until it left her mouth. "Are you supposed to talk about that in front of me?"

* * *

Sakura could feel her emotions worsened and she blamed the hangover for her crankiness. Itachi told her to go back inside after her outburst and she reluctantly complied, not liking the emotion the scene of them talking were bringing to her.

Most people who knew Sakura knew that she was the kind of person who felt strongly about everything. She was short-tempered and although she rarely got envious about little things, when it came to the people she had romantic affections for, she tend to get possessive and jealous. Usually, she would be able to keep it at bay but this time, she could not and again, she blamed her hangover for it.

She was lying on her stomach on her couch with her face buried in one of the cushions as she cursed at herself for her actions. She did not even hear the front door closed as Itachi entered inside her apartment and unfortunately, she did not see Itachi's lips curving upward and his eyes twinkling in amusement at the sight of her berating herself.

He purposefully made a bit of a sound as he walked towards the couch to get her attention and to his delight, she stiffened.

Sakura heard soft shuffling as Itachi sat down on one of the beanbags Naruto forced Sasuke to buy as he confided his horror of the possibilities of sitting where Sakura and Itachi probably did the _deeds_ even after Sakura embarrassedly told him that they had not gotten to that level yet. They rarely even kissed. As much as she understood that Itachi was the kind of person who was used to restrain himself, she was sometimes a bit disappointed at the fact that he had that much restrain over himself.

She felt tense at the lack of sound as Itachi settled himself on the beanbag in front of her. She would really like it at this moment if he bombarded her with questions for answers to justify what she did and scolded her for acting the way she did when he was obviously doing his job. Only then would she know what to do. She would get angry at him for getting mad at her and he would then accuse her for being jealous and she would say something to deny what he was saying.

But let's not forget about the fact that she was dating the Uchiha Itachi.

She unintentionally let out a muffled scream of frustration. She did not want to be the one to break the silence but she knew that she had to or else the tense silence would go on eating on her patience.

She slowly lifted her head and she was not surprised to see Itachi looking at her while sitting comfortably. He did not seem to feel the tense atmosphere that she was feeling and she realized that whatever she felt earlier was only in her head. Embarrassed, she hid her face again but this time, she tilted her head so that she was looking at the back of the couch.

"You're having fun with this, aren't you?"

He did not answer and she should have expected this from him. She tried not to feel guilty at the accusatory tone she was using. Itachi did nothing, really. It was her who was jealous without any reason.

They fell into silence again for what felt like thirty minutes when she heard Itachi shifted. She was not aware of what he was doing until she felt a hand running through her hair from behind her and a kiss on her temple. Suppressing the need to look at him, she tensed.

Realizing that his attempt to make her look at him failed, Itachi let his hand played with her hair and sat against the couch. Something about the way his fingers stroked her hair calmed her down causing her to sigh in defeat.

"Thank you for helping me out there. I hope you won't get into trouble though for lying to the authorities just to vouch for me."

She moved a bit and he got the message as he pulled back his hand. She turned on her other side and stared at the back of his head. She could not see his expression but something in her was taken aback at how unusually quiet he was being. He tended to say a thing or two at least a minute into seeing her even if it was only a greeting but he had not said anything this time.

"And erm… Sorry. I acted a bit out of line."

That might be the very thing he was waiting for because the next thing she knew, he spoke.

"You were jealous."

Sakura's eyes widened at the first sentence that came from his mouth. Hearing something akin to amusement in his voice, she sat up into an uncomfortable position. "What? You were amused by this?" She stared at the back of his head, incredulous.

He tilted his head, his amused stare suddenly darkened with disapproval at the way she was sitting. Sheepishly, Sakura let her legs fell to the floor next to Itachi.

The amused glint returned to his stare and he smirked a bit. "I like knowing that your feelings for me have not disappeared."

Sakura snorted, knowing that he was just delighted that what she was feeling for him was just as strong as his feelings for her despite the fact that her feelings developed later than his did. "Don't take me lightly. A few weeks are not enough for me to stop feeling for you."

They both knew how true that was if her feelings for Kakashi was any indication.

Now that she knew that Itachi was not angry at her for acting childishly, she got off the couch. Itachi instinctively stretched his leg forward making sure to make some space for her to sit. She took her position in between his thighs and he lazily wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close.

Sakura sighed as she listened to the beating of his heart. "Can I assume that you're here because you missed me?"

Her eyes strayed to the side when she saw the remote control to the television that Sasuke left in her apartment because his parents could not know that he bought another set or his father would freeze his bank account. Naruto volunteered his house at first but knowing how much of a klutz their blonde friend was, he did not want to risk it.

She had been looking for that damn thing for a few days already and it was in the most obvious place all along. She reached for it and clicked on the power button. The television came to life and a comedy show appeared on its screen.

She felt Itachi buried his head onto her hair and he inhaled. "Of course," he replied curtly.

She tilted her head to the side for a bit and she saw the bags under his eyes. She kept her mouth shut from asking if he had been sleeping at all. She knew that whatever tired him out could not be anything related to his work as a lecturer. There were a number of females whining at the fact that they had not seen her for days and even if he never told her, it was obvious that he had not been in the Law School for the past few weeks. He never told her anything if it's related to his other job as a lawyer and she knew that it was confidential but sometimes she got curious and worried as to what he got himself into. It was a well-known fact that a lawyer could not have been involved in the safest of cases. Standing on the boundary between legal and illegal had its repercussions and the ones that she heard most of the time did not sound good.

She drew circles on the back of his hand in an attempt to soothe him. They sat like that for a few more minutes with her wondering if it was okay or not to laugh at the jokes that were made by one of the comedians. She wanted to act like she did not realize how different he was acting but with his face buried in her hair, it proved to be difficult. The final straw was when she felt his lips grazed over the back of her neck.

"You know," she started. She forcefully removed his arms around her but when she tried to turn to look at him, he wrapped his arms around her again, forcing her back into her initial position. "If you need someone to talk to, I can definitely lend you an ear."

She wanted to just say that she knew that something was definitely on his mind but she still had a headache and she did not want to push him if he did not want to talk about it.

"Hn," he replied, neither a yes or a no. Fortunately for Sakura, she was already a pro at identifying what that grunt meant after years of knowing Sasuke.

"It's not fun hanging out when your mind is somewhere else, Itachi." She realized that she was almost whining but she did not care at the moment. "It's been a while since I saw you and I was hoping that when I finally see you, we would be able to talk about everything that we missed out on each other." She could almost hear her anger slipped into her voice but really, he was driving her crazy.

Normally, she would really like it if he was acting intimate with her but this time, something was different. His attention was not with her and his movement was almost… she could not find the word to describe it. However, it irked her and that was enough for her to call him out on it.

She could feel Itachi's stare on her. "You were out last night," he started.

Sakura was relieved that he finally stopped thinking about whatever he was thinking. "Yeah, I told you, didn't I? I went out drinking with the others after our exam and –"

"Did something happen?"

Okay, maybe not.

Sakura was getting more weirded out and a bit upset. "Itachi, I've told you. You can relax when you're with me. And to answer your question, and I hope that you won't be asking anything work-related again after this, no. Nothing happened. I managed to get home safe and sound, if that's what you're worried about."

There was a subtle change in his breathing before he chose to speak again. "That's good." He replied curtly but the tightening of his hold on her told her that he had not really got his mind out of the matter.

"I'm sure it's only a one-time thing, Itachi. I don't know why you're so worried."

Itachi did not say anything. Sakura was distracting herself from her boyfriend's worry by focusing on the screen. Itachi rarely worried about her. He always knew that she would be able to take care of herself. To see him this worried was a bit worrying.

Acting against her thought, she turned her head sideways and called out his name. "Itachi?"

Itachi hummed in response and as soon as he looked at her, she pecked him on the lips.

She could see Itachi's eyes went in and out of focus at her action as he leaned a bit forward expecting something more than that. She smiled, glad that she was able to distract him. "Do you want to go out today?"

"I was hoping that we could just stay at home today," he murmured.

"Oh?" Sakura asked, a bit surprised. This was probably the first time that they actually did not spend their time together out. Thinking of the possibilities of what could have happened, Sakura could feel her face flushing as the thoughts in her head got more and more lewd. Trying to rid herself of those thought before Itachi caught on to them, she questioned, "Why?"

Itachi looked at her, amused. "I don't think it's a good idea for you to be out in this weather."

Sakura silently agreed. It was quiet sunny out today. It would not do any good to her hangover.

"We'll order in. We can watch movies too. I'm sure Sasuke has some movies that we can watch."

Sakura raised an eyebrow as she looked at him, noticing that he was practically implying that he knew that the television set was all Sasuke's. She only received a smirk in return but the growl from her stomach stopped her from asking any further question. She could feel her cheeks warmed.

Itachi chuckled.

Sakura sighed and made him release her. "I guess I'll go look for some open deliveries right now."

* * *

Itachi felt some kind of a weight pulling down on his feet as he made his way down the stairs to the apartment. Something was tickling his senses and his eyes betrayed his seemingly composed self as he fought the need to look back up at the floor where Sakura apartment was.

Trying to hide the things that he knew from her was hard. He had been on the verge of revealing everything to her every single time he met her. He had always been a very private person and Sakura was the only one who managed to make him unwind enough to tell her things that he had always kept prisoner in his mind. The only thing that kept him from blurting it all out to her was the trouble that he would be bringing her into if she knew just what he was getting into.

He knew that he was not doing a good job at hiding things away from her. She was way too observant for his own good. However, for her sake, he would try.

He went to his car and with a final glance at Sakura's apartment, he drove away to where he should have been hours ago.

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 **AN: I will not give any excuses. I know I'm late in uploading this, lol. Anyway, please let me know what you think of this chapter!**


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